


An Unusual Distraction

by ilovelegendsalot



Series: Red X [4]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Big Brother Jason, But also self censorship for the sake of the children, Damian meets Jason first, Gen, Humor, Jason Todd is Red X, Sibling Bonding, Some Fluff, Some angst, Swearing bc Jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2020-10-24 07:02:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20701877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilovelegendsalot/pseuds/ilovelegendsalot
Summary: When Talia called him back he thought it was because she wanted him to steal something.  So he was most definitely not expecting to be greeted by a tiny, very Bruce looking child.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the 4th part of my Red X series, though it can be read alone. You can get all the backstory for this one by reading the previous 3 but you can read this one on its own as well.

Talia better have a really good reason for this.

He’d never been to this mansion before. At least it wasn’t one of her military strongholds, those places were always crawling with Shadows. This mansion was on the smaller side of the spectrum but definitely still a mansion. There was about an hour left before sunset so he was able to get a good look at it. He wasn’t in the mood to study architecture though. 

As Jason made his way up the lawn of Talia’s safemansion, he continued to stew. 

Why had she called him here? If she had a new teacher for him, she would have said so like she did every other time. Was she mad he kept killing the trainers once he was done with them? It wasn’t like she didn’t know what he was going to do. She knew what those people were. It wasn’t Jason’s fault that all the trainers she sent him to were awful pieces of scum. She was part of an evil ninja organization so it mad sense they’d all be scum, but she’d never seemed anything more than mildly annoyed when he killed them. Honestly, he got the impression she thought they deserved it. 

Months of intense studying and training. Without stop. And it was paying off. He was improving exponentially. And now Talia wanted to interrupt that. He suspected she wanted Red X to steal something for her. It was the only explanation he could think of that made any sense.

He supposed he’d have to do it. He doubted she would ask him to steal a chemical bomb or anything like that. She knew he’d refuse. It was an annoying interruption, but he did owe her. And it would still be training, in a way.

Sighing, Jason tugged his backpack tighter over his shoulders. His Red X suit was in a case at the bottom. He hadn’t used it in a while. Too busy. He’d need to brush up on everything and get some practice in before taking it back out into the field.

He took the porch steps two at a time then hesitated at the front door.

A slight frown tugged at his lips. It was a bit odd that Talia hadn’t come out to meet him yet. It was possible she was busy, but he hated having to deal with the lackies she always dragged around with her. They were total weirdos.

Tapping his foot, he waited a few seconds longer. When no one came to open the door, he tilted his head back and groaned. He side eyed the doorbell. 

No, that felt weird. Plus, it would probably be loud and let the whole house know he was there. He’d try knocking first.

Nothing happened for a few seconds and just as Jason raised his fist to try again the door swung open.

The person who answered the door was most definitely _not_ Talia or one of her lackies.

Jason nearly stumbled as he stared down at the child. A child in a child-sized assassin uniform. A child who maybe looked six years old. A child who looked so much like Bruce Jason momentarily questioned if he’d stepped into some kind of parallel dimension without realizing.

“Uhh,” Jason said eloquently, mind racing to make sense of things. Seeing a kid at Talia’s hideout alone was a surprise. But a kid who looked just like Bruce had at that age? Mind shattering. He’d stared at the pictures lining the Manor halls enough to remember what baby Bruce looked like. That Bruce had ever been a kid had been a strange concept to swallow, but this was a whole new level of insane. 

The kid didn’t seem to realize Jason’s mind was currently exploding. “You are Jason, yes?” he asked in very precise English.

“Er, yeah,” Jason confirmed, inwardly scrambling to put the pieces together. The resemblance was so uncanny he’d almost say he was a clone, but now that he’d had a few seconds to look closer at the kid he noticed there was a fairly major difference. The kid had green eyes. Actually, they looked a lot like- 

Oh. God.

Bruce had boned Talia Al’Ghul!

And now the image was in his head.

And now he felt sick. He was officially freaking out.

Nope. Nope nopeity nope. He was _not_ ready to deal with this.

There was no way Bruce knew about this. No way. He’d never allow his kid to stay with the League of Assassins. Shit, Talia wasn’t actually _training_ the six-year-old, was she? Oh hell, course she was. This kid would be the heir to the Al’Ghul legacy, they would have been training him from birth. Guess if you can’t beat him or make him join you, you have your hot daughter bone him until you can make a baby to serve as his replacement. Oh Jason was _so_ not ready for this. He might maybe be getting little hysterical. And now the baby Bruce was giving him a look.

“Are you just going to stand there staring like a startled rabbit?” the boy asked in a haughty tone that made it seem more like an order than a question. “Or are you going to come inside?”

Jason shook himself. “Right,” he said shakily, “Right, um, sorry.” Still dazed, he hurriedly stepped past the small boy and into the house.

The sound of the door shutting and locking behind him freaked him out more than it should have. ‘Should have’ being not at all, but now he was trapped inside with the kid. Alone. Jason was usually good with kids but in this situation, he had no clue what to do or say. Part of him hoped he was just hallucinating again. He didn’t think he was though.

Turned out he didn’t have to say anything; the kid spoke first. “You are late.”

The accusation cut through his churning emotions and his panic ebbed a bit. He raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t given a timeline, kid. Talia just said to come as soon as possible.” More like she’d told him to come immediately then had thrown a plane ticket at him, but she hadn’t given him an arrival time and Jason had never given her one. Therefore, he couldn’t be late.

“I am not a kid,” the very obviously a kid argued. “And you were entirely capable of arriving sooner. Dragging one’s feet is a waste of time that could be spent on achieving one’s goals.”

Quite a vocabulary on this kid. “I wasn’t dragging my feet,” Jason disputed. “This was all pretty sudden. I can’t just drop everything the second Talia calls. There are…” How should he phrase it for a child? “…loose ends that need to be dealt with.”

The kid huffed in annoyance, but the accusing expression was gone from his face. “I suppose that is understandable,” he admitted grudgingly. Then the kid brightened for the first time since Jason had arrived. “But you are here now. Which means you must answer the- oh, hello mother.”

Jason whipped around and, sure enough, there was Talia standing in the hallway, silently watching them.

A million questions tore through his mind and he needed answers, but he didn’t want to start grilling Talia in front of the kid. So, with great effort, he swallowed the words he wanted to say and merely glared at Talia as she strode to stand between them.

“Jason,” she greeted with a nod. “I hope your journey was pleasant.” 

“It was fine,” Jason said tersely, eyes sliding back towards the kid.

Talia moved smoothly to stand behind the kid, leaning down slightly to put her hands on his shoulder. “I see you and Damian have already met.”

Damian huh? That- actually wasn’t a bad name. He’d been expecting something more pretentious. Not entirely trusting his voice, he simply nodded.

The corners of Talia’s lips turned up in a small smile. “Damian has been quite eager for your arrival. He’s spent all his spare time today waiting by the door.”

“Oh, um, well, glad to meet you Damian,” Jason said, doing his best to keep his confusion out of his voice. The kid was giving him a slightly awed look. Jason wasn’t really sure what to make of it.

“Likewise,” Damian said and Jason’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. How old was this kid again? English probably wasn’t even his first language but he was using some pretty advanced words. Correct Grammar too.

Talia lifted her hands from Damian’s shoulders and straightened. Moving her gaze from Jason down to her apparent son she said, “I know you have been eager to spend time with your brother-“ Jason stiffened. ‘Brother?!’ What the hell was Talia playing at?! “But let us get him situated first.” Jason would be shocked that a kid Damian’s age knew what ‘situated’ meant, but he was catching on fast that Damian wasn’t an ordinary kid.

This whole situation had him incredibly off balance so when Talia reached for his backpack he handed it to her automatically. She then handed it to Damian. “Take Jason’s things to his room,” she instructed him briskly. “He and I must have a quick talk, but he’ll meet you there shortly.”

The child obediently took the bag. “Yes, mother,” he said. As he left, he threw one last curious glance at Jason before darting away.

Jason burst as soon as the kid was gone. “What the hell, Talia?! You have a fucking son?! With _Bruce_?! And what’s with this brother nonsense? How could you- I mean-”

Talia cut his frenzied questions off, unconcerned eyes narrowing down on him. “What did I tell you about the language?”

“My language?!” Jason half laughed, half choked, borderline hysterical. “You suddenly pull out a secret son, who you are also calling my little brother, and you’re complaining about my _language_?”

He’d never seen Talia do a full eye roll before. She usually just did an eye raise. “I don’t see how this is all that shocking for you,” she said, sounding distinctly unimpressed. “You already knew of our affair. A child coming out of that situation is hardly abnormal.”

“Well, yeah, I knew you two had a thing. But I didn’t know you did-“ he made some meaningless gesture with his hands, unsure of how to string his thoughts together- “_the_ thing. And you- and you _definitely_ didn’t tell Bruce about this.”

Talia’s green eyes flashed. “And have him attempt to take my son away? Of course not.” She shook her head angrily then glanced down the hallway Damian had used. “We can discuss this further but let us move somewhere more private.”

She didn’t want the kid to overhear. Jason could 100% respect that. So, despite his churning emotions, he gave a tight nod.

However, as they moved through the house the shock of Damian’s existence faded and he realized he didn’t actually have that many questions. The whole thing was pretty simple. Talia and Bruce had done the deed six or so years back, Talia had gotten pregnant and never told Bruce. It was impressive she’d been able to successfully hide him from Bruce for so long, but it wasn’t exactly a complicated scheme. Rather mundane really considering the lives the two of them lived. That didn’t mean Jason and Talia didn’t still need to talk though.

The room Talia led him to seemed to be an office of some kind. It was just as fancy as the rest of the house. He felt a spark of curiosity seeing the bookcase on the far end, wondering what kind of books Talia read. That spark disappeared when Talia took a seat behind the desk and gestured to the armchair across from her.

Jason eyed the seat for a moment. He didn’t like the setup, sitting across a desk from a grown up like this usually meant he was in trouble for something. But that wasn’t the case now and it would be dumb to annoy Talia over something so small when he was trying to get answers. So Jason grudgingly took the seat.

“What I said before was true,” Talia said as soon as he’d settled. “Damian has been very eager to meet you.”

“Why?” Jason asked. If this kid knew about him, Talia must have been the one who had told him. “And why make him think we’re brothers?” That was the part that puzzled him the most. For a number of reasons.

“You share a father,” Talia clarified and before Jason could snap at her, she continued, “whether you see him that way or not, he did legally adopt you.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t think that would count for you. I thought blood was a big thing with you Al’Ghuls.” Massive understatement.

Talia nodded. “Blood is priceless,” she said with utter conviction. “Brother, in your case, is simply an honorary title. There is nothing you could inherit as if you were blood.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Oh, darn it,” he complained, voice dripping with sarcasm. “And here I was already planning what to do with my share of the ninja army.”

Rather than insulted, Talia seemed amused by his antics. “Though you don’t share blood you are connected to Damian in other ways. You share at least legal ties with his father as well as a connection to the pit. It is enough to allow the title. I believe Damian would benefit from having you as an older sibling. There is much you could teach him.”

Jason’s brain latched onto the middle part of her explanation. “’Connection to the pit’?” he repeated, worry blooming for a kid he’d only just met and knew almost nothing about. “He hasn’t actually been _in_ the pit, has he?” They hadn’t like, dipped him in a pit at birth as some kind of dark baptism, had they? That would be insane, but it totally sounded like something the Al’Ghuls would do. Would help explain a lot of their issues. His worry deepened into cold fear. No way a kid that young could handle the side effects.

To his relief, Talia scoffed. “The pits are not to be used for frivolous things and Damian has yet to have need of it.” Thank God for that. He didn’t think even Talia would put her son through training so insane the kid would die from it. He wouldn’t put it past Ra’s though. Especially since the old coot knew he could fix him if he ‘failed’. “The Lazarus Pits are an important part of the Al’Ghul legacy,” Talia asserted. “But that isn’t important right now. Damian will be getting impatient. If you have any pressing questions, ask now.”

Jason thought for a moment. He did have more questions, but they weren’t pressing, and he wasn’t sure how much he trusted Talia to answer honestly. He’d probably have better luck asking the kid directly. Especially if the kid looked up to him the way Talia was implying. He did have one question for her though.

“Was _this_ why you called me here? Just to meet Damian?” He wouldn’t really be upset if that was all it was. He didn’t appreciate the interruption to his training, but this was an acceptable reason. At least for a few days.

“It was a large part,” Talia assented. “But not the only one. I do have a job for your alias, but the time to strike is still several days off.”

That perked Jason’s curiosity. He’d theorized this earlier, but the whole Damian thing had thrown him off. What did she need him to steal? And why not just make one of her many underlings to do it? Most of them were incompetent, but still.

Talia continued, “I called you here early so you could spend some time with Damian. Train him a little. Spar. Answer some of his questions.” Talia hesitated. She didn’t look nervous really, but it was something close. “He has a deep admiration for his father.”

Jason scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back further in his chair. “Well it’s easy to admire someone you’ve never met.” He glared at her across the desk. “I’m sure you’ve told him _lots_ of stories.”

“Jason,” Talia said solemnly, “I know how you feel about Bruce at the moment, but-“

Jason didn’t let her finish.

“I’m not gonna take out my feelings for Bruce on the kid,” he said, a hint of exasperation creeping into his voice. Because, seriously, what did Talia take him for? “I don’t punish people for who their dad is. And I’m not gonna badmouth his dad in front of him. No need to kill the illusion so soon. Damian’s never even met Bruce.”

“If I thought you’d be cruel to Damian,” Talia said wryly. “I never would have set up your meeting. I was merely going to say if you need time to mentally prepare, I can stall Damian for a time. I know I dropped this on you rather suddenly.” She paused, glancing at the clock on the desk. Seemingly satisfied with whatever she saw there, she continued. “However, you must spend at least some time with him before you depart. He’ll be quite upset if you don’t.”

That was… surprisingly considerate of her.

Jason thought it over for a moment. He wasn’t exactly 100% confident about this but if he waited too long the kid would probably come up with his own reasons for the delay and they probably wouldn't be good. With a pang, Jason recalled his and Dick’s first meeting and how it had soured their relationship. They’d gotten over it eventually, but those first impressions had caused a lot of hurt.

Letting out a sigh, he shook his head. “I don’t need to wait. I can handle the toddler.”

A small smile appeared on Talia’s face. “Very well then.” She stood smoothly. “I have some business to attend to, but nothing that requires me to leave the house. If you have any problems or questions, you have my number. Send me a message and I will reply as soon as I am able.”

“Er, right,” Jason said, scrambling to stand as well.

Talia began to exit the room and Jason, feeling this was all happening very fast, hurried after her. 

“You sent him to the room I’ll be using, right?” he checked. “Where is that?”

They stepped into the hallway and Talia pointed down the hall. “Down this hall,” she directed, “up the staircase, and your room is the third on the right.” With those incredibly detailed directions that did not tell him what he was supposed to do with Damian when he got there, Talia was gone. 

Jason stared after her for a moment, then sighed. He’d just have to wing it. He was good at that. Then again this was the spawn of Talia Al’Ghul and Bruce Wayne. Good grief this kid was going to need a lot of help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always found it weird how in the comics, Jason and Damian never met before during their time in the League. With their connections to Talia you would think they would have met at some point. And even if Talia didn't want to tell Jason about Damian so Jason wouldn't spill the secret when he went to fight Bruce, why would Damian be kept out of the loop? The whole thing is a missed opportunity if you ask me. 
> 
> This story will flow directly into the next one in the series.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Damian get to know each other a bit better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry this took so long to get out. I really thought I'd get this one out sooner, but midterms were awful. Two of them were large art projects and those just eat at your time. This chapter is longer than the first one though. Also, it looks like this will actually be a 4 chapter story. And to think I actually thought this was going to be a one-shot. But then when I start writing I expand on the ideas and come up with extra things I want to put in and suddenly it's a 20,000 word story.

It didn’t take him long to find the room. The door was slightly ajar, the kid must have not shut it all the way when he went in.

Jason stood in front of it, taking a moment to collect himself. Formulate the plan he hadn’t been able to come up with on the way here. He’d just casually walk in there, they’d introduce themselves, talk a little, exchange some questions (hopefully with Jason asking most of them), and things should go naturally from there. Easy. Walk in a Metropolis park.

The plan went out the window when he heard a rustling sound inside followed by the unmistakable sound of clothes being shifted along with the clinking of metal. That was when he remembered the kid had his backpack. Shit, he better not be-

Heartbeat speeding up, Jason slammed the door open.

His fears were confirmed when he saw the kid sitting in the middle of the still-made bed holding his Red X suit. His very dangerous, powered by an extremely unstable element, covered in buttons that could release all kinds of dangerous weapons, definitely _not_ something a little kid should be touching, suit.

Sucking in a sharp breath, Jason took three quick steps forward so that he was directly in front of the bed. “Damian, what are you- I had that locked up! How did you even get it out of the case?!” Images of all the ways the kid could hurt himself flashed through his mind, each one worse than the last. The kid could accidentally put a blade through his hand, or shock himself on the security measures, or set off an explosive or, or-

Damian didn’t seem startled by his sudden entrance or concerned over the panic in his voice. “Tt,” he scoffed, “That lock may have been enough for the common rabble, but it was nothing to me. I have trained with far more complex in the past.”

Jason stared at the child for a moment, speechless. Then he got ahold of himself, made a mental note to get a more advanced lock, and grabbed the suit from Damian’s little hands. The kid let him take it, but he looked annoyed with just a hint of a pout.

“This suit is dangerous,” Jason scolded, carefully refolding the suit. “You could seriously, and I mean _seriously_, hurt yourself if you don’t know how to properly handle it.” He placed the suit on the desk beside him, laying the skull mask on top.

With the suit safely out of the way, he turned all his attention to Damian. Crossing his arms, he glared down at the kid.

Damian huffed, mirroring Jason by crossing his own arms and glaring up at Jason. “I am not stupid. I am entirely capable of safely handling advanced weaponry.”

Good grief, what had Talia done to this kid? Jason could already tell he was going to need a _lot_ of patience to deal with this kid. Patience wasn’t exactly considered to be one of his strong suits, but he could be patient when he needed to be.

Bringing up a hand to rub at his face, he said, “Even if that’s true, I seriously doubt you’ve ever dealt with a suit like this. And that doesn’t change that it’s _my_ stuff. You shouldn’t be snooping through _my_ stuff in the first place. I didn’t give you permission. I get your probably used to ordering Shadows around and touching whatever you want-“ And they probably fawned over him as he did it “-but that shi-“ Jason caught and corrected himself just in time. “-that stunt won’t fly with me. You want to see or touch something of mine, you ask. I don’t care if it is a weapon or not. Maybe I’ll say yes, maybe no, but you don’t touch my stuff unless I give you the okay, got it?” He really needed the kid to understand this.

Jason fully expected the kid to try and argue with him. Either an ‘I’m an Al’Ghul, I do as I please’ or just a regular childish ‘but that’s dumb’. So, he was surprised when after a moment of thought the kid gave a single nod and said, “Fine.”

“Er, okay,” Jason floundered, a little flustered by the ease of the agreement. “Good.”

Damian shifted on the bed, switching to a cross-legged position. His expression went from annoyed to curious. “That suit is what you wear for your alias, yes?” he asked, peeking around Jason to where the suit was resting.

Jason supposed there wasn’t any reason not to tell him. Talia would probably just blab everything to him later if she hadn’t already. And he’d already seen the suit.

“Yes,” he told him as he reached past the kid to gather the rest of his backpack. To his relief, the kid appeared to have only messed with the suit. The locked case must of piqued his interest. Jason was the same way. He zipped it back up and placed it on the ground beside the dresser.

Damian seemed very excited by his answer. Or rather, he looked like he was excited but was trying very hard to hide it. “What do you call yourself?” he asked eagerly.

“Red X,” Jason answered. Then, after a short pause. “I can show you what it can do later. If you want.”

Jason’s lips quirked when the kid nodded eagerly. “I would appreciate the demonstration.”

Ok, Jason had to admit it, the kid was actually pretty cute. It was an unusual, angry kitten, kind of cute, but still cute. It was weird as hell how similar he looked to Bruce and the kid was _way_ too serious for his age, but he couldn’t deny the kid was cute. Especially now that the kid was finally acting more like a kid. And he’d be lying if he said he didn’t find hearing all these elaborate words coming from a child’s mouth a little amusing. Even if he was prickish. Again, angry kitten. 

“You use some pretty advanced words for a six-year-old,” Jason ventured, fishing for information. “Your mom the one who taught you English?”

Damian’s little nose scrunched up, looking utterly offended. “I am seven!” he declared heatedly, as if thinking anything else was the worst insult imaginable.

Jason shrugged. “Alright, seven, I was close.” Man, so it must have happened just a little before Bruce took in Dick. So Dick probably had no idea it had happened either. Helped explain why Jason hadn’t known about it. No way Dick wouldn’t have brought it up if he had known. Dick couldn’t keep secrets, not among family. “So, did Talia teach you or what?”

“Mother taught me some,” Damian admitted, sounding like he still hadn’t fully forgiven him for the age miscalculation. “I’ve had several other tutors in the subject as well. Mother says it is crucial that I be fluent is many languages.”

Jason held in a groan. Good grief, how many languages was Talia trying to pile onto this kid? He was almost scared to ask. He knew young kids picked up languages faster, but that didn’t mean you shoved as many languages as inhumanly possible into the kid’s skull. And it wasn’t like languages were the only thing Talia would have the kid studying. How was the kid able to cope?

He chose not to say anything about how the kid was obviously being overworked, and instead nodded, “Definitely a good skill to have. And you’ve clearly got English down. Ninth graders don’t even have that kind of vocabulary.”

Jason remembered how shocked he’d been to learn some of the words that apparently weren’t common knowledge. He’d been ahead in English, so he’d been put in with the ninth graders. Prevalent, arbitrary, contrast, cynic. Did no one read anymore? Those tests had been easy A’s. He hadn’t even needed to study. He hadn’t made it to the end of the class though. No, a certain crowbar wielding clown had stolen that from him.

Before Jason could start sinking into his anger, Damian spoke again. The praise appeared to have gotten Jason back into the kid’s good graces. The kid was practically preening.

“Of course,” Damian said proudly. “I am far superior to those plebeians.”

Again, it was a prickish thing to say, but hearing a seven-year-old say ‘plebeian’ was kind of hilarious. Jason held in the chuckle though. He didn’t think Damian would appreciate it.

Jason racked his brain for what he should say next. He didn’t want to start full on interrogating the kid or go into anything _too_ deep in their first conversation. What was something adults usually asked kids when they first met? What do you want to be when you grow up? Adults loved that one. But Jason had the strong and uncomfortable suspicion that the answer would be ‘world dictator’. He was going to have to deal with that at some point but that wasn’t a day one type thing.

Well, whatever he asked, looming over the kid while asking questions would very much give off an interrogation vibe. So, Jason plopped into the bed on the other side of Damian, stretching out his limbs as he did. He took a moment to enjoy the feeling of stiffness leaving his limbs. The plane Talia had put him on had been nice, first class, but a plane was still a plane and it had been a long flight. Leaning back against the pillows (damn these were some plush pillows), he turned to face Damian again.

“So,” he said conversationally, “Is this place where you usually live or is this more of a summer house for you?” It was a house after all. And it lacked the military feel that most of the other places Talia had brought him to had. It seemed a bit in the middle of nowhere for the royal Al’Ghul princling, but maybe that was just part of the strategy to hide him away. 

Damian had twisted around when Jason joined him on the bed. Good grief the kid looked stiff. Children weren’t supposed to sit that straight. It was unnatural. The kid also looked a little confused, though Jason wasn’t sure why.

The kid shook his head. “This is not my permanent place of residence. I have been staying here the past several months, but once mother decides to move me again, I doubt I’ll ever return.”

Jason frowned, tilting his head slightly. “Does she move you around a lot?”

“No. She will sometimes allow me to accompany her on business trips, but I usually stay at Nanda Parbat. This excursion is abnormal for me.”

This time Jason couldn’t hold in his chuckle. The glare the kid threw him only made him chuckle again.

“What is so amusing?” Damian demanded.

“Nothing,” Jason said unconvincingly. He was glad to hear Talia wasn’t dragging the kid around the world and dumping him with strangers. 

Sitting up straighter, Jason crossed his arms across his chest. “Talia seems to have told you at least a little about me,” he observed. A lot more than she’d told Jason about Damian, which was nothing. “Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?” Not an order. Leaving it up to the kid what he wanted to tell.

Damian gave a curt nod. "Very well. I am currently training to perfect my Jujutsu-“

“Ok,” Jason interrupted, holding up a hand. “I’m going to stop you there. I want the stuff you do _outside_ your training. And stuff about _you_. What you like, what you don’t like. That kind of stuff.”

This time the confusion on Damian’s face was obvious. His little brows furrowed as he asked, “But… you are to be my new trainer, correct?”

Jason shrugged. “Yeah, I’ll teach you some stuff, but we can talk about all that when we get to it. Now back on topic. Do you have any hobbies outside training?” Please say yes. Please say yes.

There was a long pause during which Jason couldn’t read Damian’s expression. He was about to prod the kid again when he finally spoke.

“What hobbies do you have outside your training?” Damian queried hesitantly.

The air around them seemed to still and it took everything in Jason not to outwardly panic. Because he didn’t have any hobbies outside training. Not anymore. He hadn’t even opened a book in months. Which was bizarre now that he stopped to think about it. The only reading he’d done at all lately was the Gotham Gazette and other Gotham news outlets. He didn’t have time to waste on luxuries. He had a mission and his training took priority over everything else.

But he couldn’t tell Damian that. The kid wouldn’t understand why their situations were different.

“I read a lot,” Jason forced out. It wasn’t a lie. Just because he hadn’t recently didn’t mean it was something he didn’t do. “Classics mostly, but I’ll pick up whatever catches my interest.” He wondered what books had come out during his… absence. He wouldn’t have time to read them (especially since there was still a pile of books he’d been planning on reading Before), but maybe he could just check. Out of curiosity. If he had time.

Damian seemed to take Jason’s words as some form of permission. “I read some as well, partially as a way to practice my languages. I am currently reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu.” Of course he was. “So far I have found it quite informative. The man has sage advice, though there are aspects that could be improved upon.”

“Well, that’s good,” Jason said, a little torn between wanting to encourage a non-training activity and wanting the kid to read some more age appropriate books. “I can probably recommend some other books to you if you tell me what you like.”

After a moment, Damian nodded. “I would like that.”

“Any other hobbies?” Jason checked. It was nice that the kid got to read but the way he’d described it made it sound like he saw reading as another form of training. If all the books he was given were in the Art of War category, it was definitely another form of training. The kid must have _something_ that counted as a full-fledged, not training related hobby.

Damian shifted slightly on the sheets. “I, um, play the violin,” he added uncertainly. As if he wasn’t sure how Jason would react.

“Really?” Jason said brightly, making it very clear he didn’t view this as a bad thing. As if being able to play an instrument was ever a bad thing. “That’s cool. I actually considered taking it up for a while. Mostly because I wanted to be able to play the horror music sound at appropriate moments.” Like when Dick entered a kitchen. “Didn’t end up actually getting one. Alfred insisted I take up piano though, to be cultured and all that jazz. I took up guitar and electric guitar on my own.” He was probably really out of practice now. He was pretty confident he could get back into it if he tried though.

Damian raised an eyebrow, the slight head tilt indicating he was about to ask a question.

“Who is Alfred?”

For a few seconds, Jason could only stare at the kid in utter disbelief. Then he jolted. “Talia didn’t tell you who _Alfred_ is?!” How could she have left out _Alfred_?!

Damian huffed, looking defensive. “She has never mentioned anyone of that name, no.”

“Alfred Pennyworth?” Jason tried, thinking maybe the kid would recognize the last name.

But Damian just shook his head. “No,” he said, a hint of embarrassment buried in his voice. “Is he someone of importance?”

“He’s, he’s our grandfather,” Jason told him, voice cracking a little on the word. Alfred… Jason, he hadn’t even thought of Alfred for… a long time. It was like there was a mental block over the man. Because thinking of him would only bring him pain.

The memory of him sitting beside Alfred as the elderly butler taught him how to play the piano struck Jason with a pang of longing so intense it physically hurt. God, he missed him. His kindness, his empathy, his wit, his support, his Britishness, just everything. No human being was perfect, but Alfred was as close as any person could get.

The kid seemed oblivious to how stricken the older boy was. His green eyes widened a little as he asked, “Our grandfather?! So he is father’s father then? Why don’t their surnames match?”

Jason nodded, still choking on the onslaught of memories that was suddenly hitting him causing his stomach to churn and his heart to ache. “Alfred is Bruce’s dad,” he managed to get out. “He was the one who raised him.” Jason was not in a place right now where he could explain the surname difference. He was one push away from breaking down into tears.

Damian frowned. “Mother had not informed me of this. She almost never answers my questions.” He sounded frustrated. Jason couldn’t blame him. “Is this ‘Alfred’ a great warrior like the Demon’s Head?”

Comparing Alfred to that demented old bastard was such an insult it knocked Jason out of the flood of memories threatening to overwhelm him. He was aware though he couldn’t just start tearing into Ra’s. The way the kid had referred to him as a ‘great warrior’ along with the look in his eyes when he said Demon’s Head was all Jason needed to know the kid had way more respect for the fossil than he should. And a stranger who the kid had only just met that day wasn’t going to be able to erode that respect. Not yet.

So Jason approached it from the opposite end.

“Alfred is a total badass,” he informed him emphatically. Wait, damn it, was ‘badass’ a swear word? He didn’t remember. He didn’t think it was. Well, too late now.

“He was a super spy back in the day,” Jason continued. “Not even Bruce dares to cross Alfred.”

This seemed to shock the kid to his very core. “Not even Father?” he gasped, eyes wide.

“Nope,” Jason said, shaking his head very seriously. “Not even him.”

“Wow,” Damian breathed, awed. “I’ll be very honored to meet him when the time comes. I am truly surprised Mother never informed me of him.”

“Must have slipped her mind,” Jason said dryly. He actually had no idea what Talia’s opinion of Alfred was. He didn’t really see Talia as _dis_liking him, but she would definitely see Ra’s as the superior grandfather and probably didn’t want competition. Because obviously Alfred won by a landslide. Actually, it was likely she didn’t see Alfred as Damian’s grandfather at all with her blood obsession. He was glad he’d gotten to tell Damian about Alfred first. Talia’s description wouldn’t have given him justice.

Thinking of Alfred still hurt though. So much so his head was actually starting to ache. His thoughts were even starting to go fuzzy.

“So, violin. Great instrument. Anything else you like to do?” Jason asked, desperately wanting to return to nonpainful subjects.

Damian, on the other hand, seemed disappointed by the change of subject. But whether he was just too ingrained in obeying authority figures or just too embarrassed to ask more questions, he went along with it.

“I enjoy painting,” Damian told him, his earlier nervousness gone. “And drawing. And art in general.”

“An artist, huh? You should show me some of your work. I’d love to see them.”

Damian stared at him for a moment, no discernable emotion or his face. Then, “You want to see them?”

“Yeah,” Jason affirmed, giving the kid what he hoped was a reassuring smile. When he didn’t immediately answer, he added, “Only if there are any you want to show me. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“No,” Damian said slowly, “you can see them if you wish.” He hopped off the bed. “My room is just next door. I can retrieve them and return swiftly.” The kid made no move to leave though. Probably waiting for Jason to give him permission.

“Our rooms are next to each other?”

Damian nodded. Well that made some things easier.

“Is there anyone in any of the other rooms?” Jason asked, recalling the seven other doors lining the hallway. He didn’t like the idea of being so close to Shadows. Even if they didn’t attempt to murder him in his sleep, he didn’t want to have to deal with them every time he entered the hallway.

Thankfully, Damian shook his head. “We are the only ones in this part of the house. Mother sleeps in the opposite wing and the guards have their own section. Unless there is an incident it is unlikely you will run into them at all.” 

“Hmm,” Jason hummed, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing. “Whelp, let’s go see your art.”

Damian looked startled. “There is no need for you to get up,” he insisted. “I can fetch them and bring them here.”

Jason shrugged. “You could do that yeah. But I want to see your room if you’re okay with that.” Seeing the kid’s room would tell him a lot about him. However, Jason knew better than anyone how important private spaces were, so he wouldn’t force the kid to let him in if he didn’t want him there.

“I assure you my room is in proper condition and does not require inspection,” Damian said, crossing his arms. “You will find a no problems with it.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Good grief, Damian, it isn’t a military inspection. I just want to see your room.”

“Why?” Damian asked, eyes narrowing.

“Curiosity.” Something any child could understand.

“Oh,” Damian said, thinking for a moment. “Very well then.”

Damian’s room turned out to be the first door to the right. While Damian went to open one of his desk drawers, Jason took the chance to analyze the room. 

His first thought upon seeing it was that it did not look like a child’s room. It actually reminded Jason a lot of how his room in the Manor had looked when he’d first moved in. Minus a few weapons here and there. It was fancy, expensive, clean, and comfortable, but with zero personality or personal items. He couldn’t even guess the kid’s favorite color from looking at this room, that was how little personality it had. He knew Damian didn’t usually live here, but the kid had said he’d been here for months now. That was plenty of time to settle in.

A frown flitted across Jason’s lips. This was a hell of a lot better than where Jason had been living at Damian’s age, but that didn’t make it _good_. It wasn’t child abuse (at least the room itself wasn’t), but it wasn’t exactly healthy either.

Jason’s thoughts were cut off when Damian came back clutching a sketchbook to his chest. He grinned as the kid silently handed it to him. Jason started to flip through it right away.

‘Impressed’ didn’t quite cover it. Jason had known better by now not to expect crayon drawings, but he hadn’t been expecting _this_.

Most of it was in black and white, though there was the occasional colored one. The book was filled with sketches at weapons, rooms, objects, a lot of plants and birds. All of which looked incredibly professional. The lines were clean, the shading was perfect, the color choice on the colored ones was superb, the details were all there. Some people could try their whole lives and not reach the level this seven-year-old was at. As far as Jason could tell there wasn’t much in the way of creative embellishments, they all appeared to be nearly exact replicas of already existing things, but that didn’t make them less amazing.

Jason considered himself a decent artist. He wasn’t horrible and he could whip out detailed schematics and other things like that no problem, but he couldn’t make anything like these.

He did enjoy drawing, but he hadn’t exactly had the time or the resources to practice when he’d been on the streets. After moving into the Manor he’d been able to really pick it up, but he’d prioritized reading over art in his free time. He seriously doubted Damian had much in the way of free time though.

“Wow, Damian,” Jason said enthusiastically, turning another page. “These are amazing! Did Talia give you an art tutor?” If Talia had given Damian a violin teacher, an art teacher wasn’t as big a leap as he would have first thought. 

Looking pleased, Damian shook his head. “No,” he said, and Jason didn’t miss the wistful note to the word. “It is merely something I do when I am able. My schedule could not fit another subject.”

It was then Jason noticed something behind Damian, sticking out of a trashcan beside the desk. Something that looked extremely familiar. Jason didn’t even try to hide from his frown.

He reached the can in a few quick strides, pulling the object out of the otherwise near empty trashcan. It was another sketchbook.

Jason opened it, quickly flipping through it for any sign of damage to explain why it had been discarded. But is was basically the same as the other sketchbook Jason was still holding. Filled with the same type of art, once again with a focus on plants and birds.

Turning back to Damian, Jason asked, “Why’d you throw this one away? These are great, Damian.” For reasons he didn’t entirely understand this was really upsetting him.

Damian shifted on his feet, casting what very much looked like a nervous glance towards the door. “Oh, those. Those are… Mother threw them out.”

“She did what?!” He instantly regretted the anger in his voice as the kid flinched minutely. It was just- there were dozens of pictures in this book. Around fifty if Jason had to make an estimate. That was easily over a hundred hours of Damian’s very little free time. And the kid clearly loved his art. “Why the he-ck would she do that?!”

Damian shook his head. “It was my own fault,” he said stoically. “I made the erroneous decision to draw something when I was meant to be training. I’d just- never seen that particular bird before and I thought I could do the outline quickly…” He shook his head again. “Mother saw me and threw the book away as punishment. I should not have done it and regret my actions.”

…..what the-?

Jason could only stare as his mind tried to process what had just been said.

There was a hint of sense to it. Rather like how all the best lies had at least a hint of truth to them. He could understand the basic concept that the kid had been playing when he was supposed to be working (even though he was being crazy overworked). But to _throw away_ the _entire_ sketchbook as punishment?! Even just throwing away the page he’d been working on seemed a bit far, but the _entire_ sketchbook?! That was, it was insane! She could have just confiscated the sketchbook for a while, even just a light scolding probably would have worked.

“Does she not like you drawing or somethin’?” Jason questioned, trying to come up with some kind of semi-reasonable explanation.

“No,” Damian said mildly. As if he had no idea how utterly ridiculous this was. “She says artistry is a fine skill to have, however my training takes priority. I have great destiny after all.” 

Jason snorted. ‘Great destiny’. He didn’t even know what Damian thought that destiny was. Did he think he was going to inherit the League? Because Jason had spent a lot of time around Ra’s during his imprisonment. Probably more than Damian ever had. And that time had showed Jason something very important. Something he didn’t think almost anyone else knew about. Not even Talia.

Ra’s Al’Ghul had no intention of ever dying.

His gargantuan ego would not allow him to believe the world could keep spinning without him nor would it allow him to believe he might fail in achieving immortality. There would be no passing things on to the next generation. You don’t need a heir if you never die. Maybe Ra’s wanted someone of his own noble blood to help him manage things similar to what Talia did. It was possible he might view Damian as a backup plan of sorts but that would be him admitting to the possibility of failure. He supposed it was at least a possibility though, however unlikely.

But back to the matter at hand.

He glanced back towards the trashcan, red hot fury sparking within him. Talia hadn’t even thrown the sketchbook away in another room. That meant Damian would have had to see it every time he was in his room. And since it had still been in there, Damian had been too scared to take it out and save it. He’d just left it in there where it could taunt him.

Jason’s knuckles went white he gripped the sketchbook so hard. The ominous flecks of green in his vision were warning enough for him to get himself under control though. No way in hell he was letting himself freak out in front of the kid.

The question was what to do now? Because he was _not_ letting this sketchbook be destroyed. He briefly considered just asking Talia to reconsider, but he seriously doubted she’d be reasonable about this. She’d probably see it as an undermining of her authority. Then she’d try to order Jason to throw it away and then they’d get into a big fight and right now was a _really_ bad time for that. For a number of reasons.

Running his finger along the spine of the sketchbook, an idea formed in his mind.

“So she threw it out, huh?”

“That is what I just said. Were you not listening or is your memory truly that abysmal?”

Jason chuckled. “Ok. Can I have it as a gift then?”

Damian blinked. “A gift?”

“Yeah. Like a welcome present. Since this is our first-time meeting and all.” It wasn’t as good as just giving it back to Damian, but at least this way the art was saved. Maybe one day he could return it. He doubted Talia remembered what was in the sketchbook (if she’d looked at all) and they all looked the same on the outside. After the heat died down, he could simply give it back.

For a moment, Damian was silent. Then he slowly nodded. “It would be the polite thing to do. Very well. You may take it as a welcoming gift. You may now express your gratitude.”

Ugh, so cute.

“Thanks, Dami,” Jason cooed (good god, he was cooing?! What was happening to him?!) walking over and giving what he hoped was a decent hug. He wasn’t really the best with hugs.

The kid was caught off guard by the action, but thankfully he hadn’t viewed it as an aggressive move. Jason knew firsthand how confusing that could be. Damian gave no resistance when Jason tugged him downward, so they were both sitting on the floor.

There was a pause as the kid processed what had just happened. Then he crossed his arms indignantly. “Dami?!” the kid sputtered. “My name it Damian.” If Jason didn’t know any better, he almost could have sworn the kid sounded a little _hurt_ that he’d seemingly misremembered his name.

Jason folded his legs into a criss-cross position. “It’s a nickname,” he explained, because apparently an explanation was needed. 

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed. “’Nickname’? Is that some form of codename? If so, your choice is far too close to my true name to be of much worth.”

Jason laughed, placing the sketchbooks beside him. “Nicknames are just names people use for people close to them. Usually they are shorter than your real name, but they don’t have to be. In your case, I just shortened Damian to Dami.” It was weird trying to explain something so natural.

“I hardly see how removing two letters shortens much. They both take virtually the same amount of time and effort.”

“Shortening isn’t really the main point.”

“Hmm, very well then,” Damian said, eyebrows smoothing as he mirrored Jason’s criss-cross position. “In that case, if you have given me a nickname you ought to give me yours in exchange. What is it?”

Jaybird. Little Wing. Jayjay. Littlebird. Jaylad. “It’s Jay. Pretty simple. Just Jay.”

Damian perked up. “Like the bird?”

…dang it. Kid better not get any ideas. “Yeah,” he confirmed in a neutral tone, “A jay is a type of bird.”

Damian nodded. “The Cyanocitta cristata.” What the-?

It took Jason a second to realize the kid was speaking Latin. He didn’t know precisely what the words translated to, but he knew cyan was a shade of blue and from the context of the conversation he could extrapolate the kid had just stated the scientific name for a Blue Jay. Kid must _really_ love birds. He had a lot of birds in his sketchbook too.

Placing one of the sketchbooks between them, Jason started flipping through the pages. This time lingering longer so he could really take in each page.

“You really like birds, don’t you,” Jason mused, looking down at yet another black and white sketch of a bird. He was no bird expert, but he was pretty sure it was some kind of sparrow.

Damian nodded, scooching forward a bit so he was closer to the sketchbook. “I often draw the birds that inhabit the area around wherever I am currently living.” His voice grew excited. “One time, I saw a doe and a fawn that had wandered out of the forest. I wasn’t allowed to go outside, but they stayed long enough that I was able to complete a full sketch.” 

...Something was off. “So you’re an all around animal lover then?” Jason stalled, flipping through the pages more rapidly. He took careful note of each thing that was depicted.

“Only monsters dislike animals,” Damian huffed. “They are magnificent, innocent creatures, almost all of which have incredible abilities.”

“Course,” Jason agreed. He considered himself an animal lover. Not _all_ animals (rats, for example, could take their disease ridden bodies and die in their holes)and he did like certain animals more than others, but an animal lover overall.

When he made it to the last page of the sketchbook, Jason had all the evidence he needed to confirm his suspicion. Everything in it was something Damian could either find inside whatever compound they stuffed him in or could be seen out a window. Talia must never let the kid out of the house unless necessary for training. 

Damian, who was suddenly very talkative, kept on chattering about things he’d read about animals or internet videos he’d seen with animals in them (though from how few he listed Jason suspected he rarely got the opportunity to view them). No personal experience. 

Containing his frown, Jason continued talking with the kid, truly enjoying the conversation. Now that the kid was more at ease and discussing his passions, he was more open and less stiff. His childlike qualities really shining through. And as they talked a plan began building up in the back of his mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously Damian and Jason are starting their relationship in very different circumstances than what is shown in the comics. Damian, instead of being told Jason is a dangerous lunatic crimelord who is basically an enemy to the family, is starting from knowing Jason is respected by his mother, seeing Jason as a brotherly figure, and has no ethical problems with anything Jason is doing. Jason, instead of seeing Damian as yet another form of replacement, both as son and Robin, a blood son of Bruce (he does see that, but there is no serious bitterness about it without Bruce) and just an utter brat, sees Damian as a very young kid in need of protection. And since Damian is starting out from a place of respect he doesn't have all the attitude and cruelty he would have had towards Jason otherwise. 
> 
> I would love any comments and feedback on what you think so far. I read them all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Damian spar and also have some uncomfortable conversations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took me so long to update. Between finals and me working in retail (Black Friday time is a nightmare), I haven’t had a lot of time to write. But I’m almost at my break now so I’m confident I can get these next few chapters done much quicker.

_Oof_.

Jason winced as the kid landed a solid jab that he couldn’t entirely call a lucky shot to his stomach. Squirt really packed a punch for someone so tiny.

Before the kid could follow up, Jason swept his legs out from under him, sending the kid back first onto the training mat. Jason took a few steps back to get some distance and wait for the kid to get up. 

Damian was good. Shocking good. Good in a way no child his age should be. Obviously, Jason was winning their spar, kid couldn’t compete with Jason’s experience and greater size and strength, but he was actually having to put some effort in. He wasn’t just batting the kid around. When Damian had said he wanted to spar after dinner (which Talia had not attended), Jason had been nervous. Not of Damian, of course, but of how the hell do you spar with a seven-year-old without breaking him? That wasn’t turning out to be an issue though. Jason _was_ holding back, but not as much as he’d been expecting to. The kid was skilled enough that he didn’t have to worry that much about accidentally hurting him.

Damian was on his feet again in a heartbeat. With a huff of annoyance, he launched himself at Jason, feigning an attack in one direction then attacking from another at the last second. It was a close dodge. Anyone who didn’t have Jason’s extensive training in reading body and muscle movement would have fallen for it.

Feeling he’d seen enough, Jason took advantage of the failed attempt. Grabbing Damian’s arm, he used a move that was fancier than necessary and may or may not have been him showing off to the kid to pin him to the mat.

The kid struggled for a few seconds but couldn’t get free with Jason’s knee pressing into his back and both arms twisted behind him.

“Pretty impressive, Dami,” Jason praised, pleased. “You actually managed to land a few hits.”

Damian huffed underneath him. “I was going easy on you.”

Jason grinned. “Surrre you were.”

Finally, Damian gave up his struggles and flopped to the floor. “If we had been using weapons,” he grumbled, “you would have not been as lucky.”

“Or maybe I’m really good with weapons and I would have trounced you even more. Besides, you can’t depend on always having weapons.”

Now that Damian wasn’t wriggling, and his battle fervor seemed to have died down. Jason was pretty sure he could let the kid up without being attacked again. About 80% sure. So, he released the kid and stood up with a stretch.

“Well,” he said, “I think I’ve got a decent handle on where you are. How bout we take a quick break and then I can teach you some Robin moves.”

Damian’s eyes lit up as he scrambled upright. “I do not require a break,” he insisted. “We can begin immediately.”

Jason shook his head. “No. Don’t worry, it can be, like, a five-minute break. Get some water, recenter yourself. There’s no need to rush, we have plenty of time.” Talia had cleared up the kid’s schedule during his visit.

As Damian reluctantly shuffled to the bench, Jason was debating on what moves to teach him. He didn’t want to teach Damian something he already knew. That would be a total letdown and few things were more annoying than someone trying to teach you something you already knew. And the kid clearly wanted to learn a move or technique that came from his dad. There were a lot of moves Jason could throw out right off the bat (heh, bat) because they were tag team moves specifically designed for Batman and Robin. Then there were moved he’d learned from Batman and the moves he’d learned from Dick. Kid wanted Batman moves but if he threw in a few of Dick’s signature moves the kid didn’t have to know who they came from. Take out a few of the extraneous flips Dick had in some of his moves because he was a shameless showoff and you had some solid material. And from what the kid had displayed so far he definitely had the acrobatic skills to pull them off.

By the time Damian had taken the absolute bare minimum of what could be considered a break, Jason had settled on one move from Batman and one move from Dick. The Batman move was more defensive and assumed you were smaller than your opponent, which Damian definitely was and would continue to be for a long time. The Dick one was more offensive. It was unexpected and meant to catch your opponent off guard. Both would be useful moves in Damian’s arsenal.

He wasn’t surprised when the kid caught on quickly. Damian threw himself into it with so much enthusiasm he probably would have done decent even if he didn’t have all his previous training.

The third time Damian completed Dick’s move without stumbling, Jason held up a hand indicating he should stop. Jason was pleased, and maybe a little proud despite that he hadn’t really done anything to earn that pride, that the kid was already preforming the move so well. Obviously, doing a move in training was very different from doing it in a real fight, but with more practice he should be able to do the moves without really thinking.

“Not bad, Dami,” Jason praised, reaching out and tussling his just long enough to tussle hair. This did not make him a hypocrite. Dick had tussled his hair against his will so many times in the past Jason had earned the right.

And maybe he hadn’t _always_ hated it.

Damian batted his hand away. “As if I would be anything but exceptional,” he said haughtily.

Jason chuckled, which just annoyed the kid more and made it even more amusing. Kid really was cute. Then Damian’s expression became pensive.

“How old were you when Father taught you these moves?” he asked.

Quirking an eyebrow at the out of nowhere question, Jason thought back, sorting through all his training bouts. It felt harder than it should. They were both moves he had learned pretty early on in his training so- “Ten, I think. It was pretty close to my birthday though, so more like eleven.”

Was the kid trying to brag? It didn’t seem like it. Kid seemed more excited than haughty. And haughty was his default mode so something really must be up. Damian’s green eyes were bright and his body was almost twitching with anticipation. 

“What is Father like?” Damian blurted out, rather abruptly.

Jason stiffened, but otherwise was able to stifle his reaction. The kid was gazing up at him with an eagerness greater than anything he’d seen from him so far.

Crossing his arms, Jason thought for a moment. It wasn’t like he hadn’t known this question was coming. Honestly, he was surprised it took the kid this long. He clearly had been itching to ask since the moment Jason stepped through the door. Jason had been contemplating answers in the back of his mind the entire time. Yet despite that, he still felt woefully unprepared and some of his preplanned answers were already slipping away in his scrambled nerves.

There was one thing he knew for sure though, looking down at the kid’s hopeful face; he couldn’t destroy the dream this early. It wasn’t like Damian was going to have contact with Bruce anytime soon. Kid probably had this perfect, ideal image in his head of the parent he’d never met. It was an easy mistake to make.

“Well,” he started slowly. “He is one of the best fighters in the world.” Which was why Jason needed as much training as possible if he wanted to hold his own against him. “No one’s been able to take him out yet. And believe me, they’ve tried.”

Damian nodded enthusiastically. “He’s the Batman. He has vanquished many great foes.”

So Damian did know about Batman. He’d thought so, kid knew who Robin was after all, but who knew how Talia had framed it. Still, this made things easier. Would’ve really complicated things if he’d had to break the news that his dad dressed up as a furry every night to beat up bad guys in an ineffective form of justice. 

“Yep, Brucie Wayne by day, Batman by night,” Jason affirmed. He paused as a realization dawned upon him. “Don’t believe what you see in the news and the gossip blogs,” he cautioned hurriedly. “The stupid, airhead, billionaire thing is just an act. Keeps people from getting suspicious about his nighttime activities. Doesn’t do anything with any of the girls he’s supposedly dating. Heck, he can’t stand half of them.” Jason hadn’t been able to stand three-fourths of them. The remaining one-fourth had been only mildly annoying, but clearly not Bruce’s type. Thankfully, they’d all rarely been around and never stayed long. “Keeps one for a bit to keep up his playboy reputation then cycles to the next fake girlfriend.”

Jason didn’t know how much access Damian had to the outside world, but he didn’t want the kid stumbling onto the wrong (basically any) article and actually believing that garbage. He didn’t think Damian would believe the stupid, ditzy part, but the playboy stuff? That was something the kid might buy. Bruce and Talia had never been married after all, but that didn’t mean Damian would be happy that his dad was seeing women (especially _many_ women in rapid succession) who weren’t his mom. No need to bring up Selina now.

Damian huffed, a tad too defensive. “Of course. I knew that.”

“Good,” Jason said, nodding firmly. There were many, many criticisms he could hurl at Bruce, he didn’t have to make up false ones. He was feeling much more at ease now. If all he had to do was debunk news articles, this conversation was going to be a lot easier than he’d first thought.

“He’s also much more involved in Wayne Industries than most people think,” Jason continued. Might as well address all the Brucie Wayne issues at once. “He’s not just some rich kid lounging around living off his parents’ wealth. Most people think Lucius Fox, he’s Wayne Industry’s business manager, does everything for the company. And believe me, the man is an absolute beast and one of the brightest minds on the planet and Bruce’s life would be much harder without him, but Bruce isn’t just sitting in on meetings and signing whatever papers they’re shoving at him. He’s active in the company. Having people believe otherwise gives him more freedom and makes people underestimate him.”

Damian nodded. “A sound strategy. Mother has mentioned Father’s company in the past, but she has never elaborated on it.” It wasn’t an outright question, but the kid’s curious tone made it one.

Jason’s nose scrunched slightly. Ugh, why would a little kid want to hear about _boring_ business stuff? He probably just wanted to know what they made.

“Oh, y’know, they do all the normal super big multinational business stuff. They make just about everything with a big focus on technology. Lots of charity work too.” Except Bruce wasn’t just doing it for appearances or to feel superior or just throwing some money at something and thinking that alone would fix the problem. 

Damian nodded thoughtfully, seeming to mull this information over. The answer seemed to satisfy him for now because he moved on. “Grandfather has often referred to Father as the Detective. Is this merely because he solves crimes or is there a deeper meaning to it?”

Hmm, that was something the old coot did wasn’t it. To refer to both Bruce and Batman. But as far as Jason knew there wasn’t some deeper story to it. Bruce hadn’t discovered who stole Ra’s pen in grade school or anything like that.

He _could_ probably dig into some deeper psychology to it. Like ‘detective’ being a fairly respectful yet still belittling nickname. Or that it was a way he could refer to both Bruce and Batman at once without someone who wasn’t in the know understanding who he was talking about. But all that was more an analysis of Ra’s than of Bruce. That wasn’t what Damian wanted and the kid wouldn’t be ready to hear anything against his grandfather yet.

Jason shrugged. “He _does_ solve crimes, but I’m pretty sure Ra’s is just referring to his overall intelligence.” Which was pretty dang high. One of the highest in the world. Jason would even hazard to guess top ten. Unless it involved someone close to him in which case he was the most oblivious man on the planet. And just being smart doesn’t mean you are always right. “He has his reputation for a reason.”

A small smirk appeared on Damian’s face. “Yes, Mother has told me of Father’s superior intellect,” he affirmed, sounding smug. “Something I have clearly inherited.”

Jason’s lips twitched.

“Well, you do seem pretty advanced for your age,” Jason told him, amused. “I didn’t start to read The Art of War until I was twelve.” Still early, but not _seven_.

“About that,” Damian said shifting his stance slightly. “You are fifteen, correct?”

“Umm,” Jason stalled, brain hiccupping for a moment. Huh, he was fifteen now wasn’t he. He hadn’t been paying attention and August had crept past him along with his birthday. Unless the time he was dead didn’t count. He didn’t think he’d aged any during that time so did that throw his age out of whack? It hadn’t been that long, he was pretty sure he’d only been dead for three months. _He’d been dead for three months_. He violently shoved away the cold feeling in his chest that rose at the thought.

“Yep, fifteen,” Jason confirmed. He didn’t want to go into the grisly details of his death, especially if the kid didn’t already know about it. Besides, those three months totally counted. No way was he younger than he should be.

Damian nodded thoughtfully. “So when did Mother and Father do it for you?”

Jason’s eyebrows furrowed. “Do what for me?” he asked. He had no idea what Damian was referring to.

“Have the sex that conceived you.” If Jason had been drinking something, it would be spewing all over the floor. “Was Father still with the League or had he returned to Gotham?” Damian finished with a calm innocence that didn’t remotely match the words that had just exited his mouth.

For several seconds, Jason’s mouth floundered like a fish, no sound escaping his lips. Because what the actual hell?! He thought-? And he-?!

“Y-you know what sex is?” he squeaked and then promptly wanted to slam his head into a wall. Great question, Jason. Fantastic. A+.

Damian shrugged, unphased. “I know it is an act adults do to gain pleasure and procreate. I am not privy to any further details though.” He sounded annoyed about this, arms crossing poutingly. “Mother says she will tell me when I am older.”

Oh, thank God. Talia wasn’t a complete failure as a mother. He could at least give her this. It was an extremely low bar, but it was something.

“Er, yeah, right, definitely a when you’re older thing,” Jason agreed, nodding rapidly. “As for the other thing… it never happened. Talia isn’t my mom.” Had Talia seriously not told the kid this? Had Damian thought they were biological siblings this whole time?

The pang of fear that hit him caught him by surprise. Would Damian want nothing to do with him now that he knew the truth? He was probably as blood obsessed as the rest of his family. Was any respect Damian had given him so far solely because he had believed they were blood?

This was ridiculous. He hasn’t even known Damian for a full day. Why was the thought of the kid rejecting him making him so nervous?

Damian looked very perplexed. “But Mother said we were brothers,” he protested. Jason could almost hear the gears turning in the kid’s head as he tried to make sense of things. “Are you Father’s son with another woman?”

Jason shook his head, the awkward and nervous feeling growing even more. “No, biologically I’m not related to Bruce at all. He adopted me though, so legally he’s my dad.” Actually, legally, Jason was dead so really that probably didn’t count anymore.

Damian’s nose scrunched up. “Adopted?!” he repeated, sounding offended. “So we share no blood at all?! But- but you’re such a skilled fighter!” Kid almost sounded desperate.

Lips twitching upward, Jason let out a short laugh. “Aww, thanks, Dami. But you are going to fight a lot of very skilled fighters who aren’t related to you y’know.” And hopefully, eventually, a few that were.

“Well, yes, I know that of course,” Damian stammered. It was a bit weird to see the kid so flustered. “But I thought you- who are your real parents then?”

“Er,” Jason stalled. He didn’t want to go into his semi-complicated parentage right now. Especially since it turned out both of his biological parents were scumbags. Catherine had had her problems but Jason had always known she loved him and she really had tried. None of it had been her fault, she had just been in a shitty situation. As far as Jason was concerned, she was still his mom. Shelia was less than nothing to him. Just the woman who had gotten him killed.

“They were both Gothamites. Lower class.” It was leaving out a lot, but it was still the truth. “But then they weren’t around anymore, and Bruce took me in.” Willis hadn’t actually died until a little after Bruce had adopted him. When Bruce had broken the news he’d expected Jason to feel sad, but he’d just been relieved.

“So they were nobodies?” Damian said, bewildered and this time Jason couldn’t hold in a slight wince. “If that’s true, why did Father choose to adopt you?”

Empty nest syndrome. There was no stopping the flash of bitterness that came with that thought. “I don’t really know,” Jason lied with a shrug. “We never really talked about it.”

“So you are adopted just like the other one.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement.

Jason nodded, a little surprised he knew about Dick. But Dick wasn’t exactly a secret. Even if Talia hadn’t told him (though he couldn’t think of a reason why she wouldn’t) Dick had always been the darling of the media. They’d used Jason for dirty gossip but golden boy, with his friendly attitude and showman personality, had usually gotten favorable or at least neutral coverage. If Damian had learned about him from the papers though, it seemed like he should have already known Jason was adopted. Unless he’d thought it was just a cover story, Jason could see that.

Whatever, he wasn’t going to go on some tangent about Dick.

The confused look was slowly disappearing from Damian’s face as the pieces started fitting together. He began to nod slowly. “Mother has always told me I was the heir. I had assumed you’d been disowned for some reason which is why you lived with Father and were never around. This explanation makes much more sense though. Mother hadn’t even told me about you until about a year ago.”

Jason’s eyes widened slightly. About a year ago?! Talia had been setting up this brother thing that long ago?! Jason had still been imprisoned by Ra’s at that time. That meant… that she’d been telling the truth when she’d said she’d been planning on freeing him. Jason had never been sure. This… There was no guarantee Ra’s would have actually allowed it, but she had intended to.

Damian continued down his line of thought. “So if you are adopted,” he said slowly. “That means that I am the only bloodson.” A small smile that Jason didn’t entirely like crept onto his face.

“Yep, you’re his only biological kid,” Jason confirmed. Damian was going to be sorely disappointed if he thought that was going to raise him above Dick in Bruce’s eyes. Judging from the way Damian had merely referred to him as ‘the other one’, he didn’t hold Dick in very high regard.

For a few seconds, Damian looked inordinately pleased. Then he deflated a little. “But why then did Mother say we were brothers?”

“Well, legally, I suppose we would be. She told me it was an honorary title type thing.” He paused to take a calming breath, crouching down so they were at eye level. “We may not share blood, but I can still be your honorary big brother. If you want that.”

Finally, Damian said, “Mother has already given you the title. If this is what she wishes, I will not protest. An honorary position is acceptable.”

Jason frowned. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. You don’t have to accept it just because it’s what Talia said. I won’t leave if you say no.”

To his relief, Damian shook his head resolutely. “I’m not just agreeing because of Mother. As I said, it is acceptable.”

Not exactly bouncing off the walls from excitement but that was fine. Jason could work with this. They’d only just met this morning, couldn’t except the kid to be super enthusiastic about a stranger. Especially if he’d inherited his parents’ anti-social tendencies.

“All right then,” Jason said, straightening. “Well, I’m glad we got that all cleared up.” Scooping up his phone from the bench, he taped it on. He very deliberately and with some effort ignored the notifications of new news from Gotham and just focused on the time.

Almost 10pm. Dang it, where had all the time gone?

“Alright, kiddo, time for bed,” Jason announced, shoving his phone into his pocket.

Damian’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Come again?”

“Bed. Sleep. Closing one’s eyes in slumber. I’ve got big plans for tomorrow and you’re gonna have to wake up early. I want you to be well rested.”

Damian scoffed. “I _always_ wake up early. I don't waste my time with sleep like the sloths that are the general populace. I can stay awake for far longer than this without suffering any ill side effects.” A pause. Then in a more curious tone, “What plans?”

Plans he was probably going to spend the next several hours making. He wasn’t even 100% sure what country they were in at the moment. But he did have a basic outline in his head of what he wanted them to do. Just had to research the area a bit.

“It’s a surprise,” Jason told him brightly. “You’ll love it promise.” He began to shepherd Damian towards their rooms.

Damian huffed and complained like a brat the entire way but quieted down when he saw Jason was going into his own room as well. 

“See you in the morning, Dami.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really excited for the next chapter. Once they are out of the house there will a lot of cute brotherly bonding/moments as well as some big decisions made. The end of the next chapter will also lead into the next story in the series.
> 
> Please leave your feedback and comments. I love reading them and I read them all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Damian do stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another chapter! You probably noticed that this is now chapter 4/5, not 4/4. I was writing this one and realized it was getting super long so I cut it where a good breaking point would be. Even breaking it up, this is still the longest chapter in this story so far. I hope you all enjoy it.

“Talia, I’m taking Damian out.”

Surprisingly, Talia didn’t react to this announcement. Didn’t even take her eyes off her tablet.

“Hm, very well,” she said briskly. “Where are the two of you planning to go?”

Well this was starting off significantly better than he’d thought it would. “We won’t go far. Just the woods around the house and that town that’s nearby,” Jason assured her, mildly curious about what she was doing on her tablet. When he’d woken up, she’d already been here in her office doing whatever she was doing. Was it important? He wasn’t even sure she’d actually slept. Come to think of it, he’d never actually seen Talia sleep so maybe this was just normal for her.

Talia nodded once. “Avoid cameras and be back before dark,” she instructed.

Jason blinked. …That was it? She was just going to let him take her royal son out of the house? She wasn’t even going to require they have an escort? Not that she wasn’t going to send her people to watch them anyway because of course she was going to, but no official escort?

“Er, right, sure,” he agreed. If she was going to let him take Damian, he wasn’t going to argue. And she didn’t need to remind him about cameras, he already avoided those anyway. “I don’t suppose Damian owns any clothes that don’t make him look like a possible mini terrorist? You must have some clothes he can go out in public in.” If not, Jason was going to have to hit up a clothing store because no way Damian could waltz around in public in the clothes he’d been wearing so far. It wouldn’t go well.

“He has some hoodies and jeans in one of his drawers for such occasions. He knows where they are.”

“Oh. Okay, good,” Jason said, inching towards the door. “We’ll see you later tonight then.”

Talia finally looked up. He was already halfway out the door but she met his eyes and said, “I’m sure I will.”

A quick nod and Jason closed the door behind him. He hesitated for a moment in the hallway. The way Talia had said that last part almost made it sound like a threat. A threat for what, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t going to try and decipher it right now. 

Shrugging it off, Jason hurried in the direction of his and Damian’s rooms. He was glad Talia had given permission so easily. There was no way the two of them could have left without their absence being noticed. He’d been worried she’d say no or require they have some creepy assassin hovering over their shoulders the whole time, but it turned out this was one of those rare occasions when he got the best-case scenario. Hopefully, Damian would be as excited as he was.

He was in front of Damian’s door in a little over a minute. He may have been rushing a bit.

He gave the door three solid knocks. “Oh, Dami,” he sang. “Time to get up. We’re- oh.” Damian had opened the door midsentence and was now staring up at him. “Good, you’re awake.” And had been for a while now by the looks of it. His hair was even damp, presumedly from a shower. “You’re going to have to change your clothes though.” He assumed they were clean, but they did look like an exact copy of the clothes he’d been wearing yesterday. Even down to the armored gauntlets on his wrists. Definitely had to change.

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Change?” He glanced down at himself. “Is this outfit not appropriate for the mission? It is well-guarded while retaining mobility.”

Jason wasn’t even a little surprised by his reaction. He simply nodded. “We’re going to be going into the general public for a while. Your mom said you had some clothes that wouldn’t draw attention?”

Damian’s eyes brightened in understanding. “Ah, very well. I will change into the proper attire.”

“Kay, you do that,” Jason told him. “I’ve gotta grab some stuff from my room. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Damian nodded, eyes serious in a way that made Jason suspect he thought the minute was a time limit. Before he could clarify though, Damian shut the door, so Jason let it go.

There wasn’t much he needed to pack. A few concealed weapons. Some of the local currency (his research last night had revealed they were in Spain) which he had found in one of his drawers. A gift from Talia presumedly. And lastly, his Red X suit, safely secured in its case and laid in the bottom of his backpack.

Slinging his bag around his shoulders, he returned to the hallway. It was great timing because Damian exited his room a few seconds later.

The clothes were pretty much what he’d been expecting when Talia had told him about them. Blue jeans and a black hoodie. Because of course it was black. Heaven forbid the kid have some color options. It would blend in fine. Although…

“Do you have any weapons on you?” he asked, scanning the child for any telltale bulging.

Unsurprisingly, Damian nodded. “Four knives, two short, one long, one disguised as a pen, several shurikens, and a set of nunchucks,” he listed.

Hmm, not bad. The nunchucks especially, those were tricky to hide. It was a bit much though. He couldn’t forbid the kid from having _any_ weapons. The kids _was_ a potential target, being an Al Ghul, so he couldn’t promise zero possible danger. He wouldn’t be able to promise that even if the kid weren’t an Al Ghul. Plus, it would he somewhat hypocritical for Jason to bring weapons and not allow Damian to have at least _something_. Kid probably couldn’t even remember a time he didn’t have a weapon on him if Jason knew Talia, which he did. Jason trusted Damian with handling the weapons, but he wasn’t sure how much experience Damian had with the world and what he’d see as a threat. He didn’t want the kid misreading a situation and stabbing someone. Or worse.

“Hm, ok,” Jason decided. “You can keep the pen knife, one of the other knives, and the shurikens. Leave the rest of it. Also, grab one of your sketchbooks and some of your drawing supplies. We may need them.”

Damian’s expression hadn’t changed as Jason told him he had to leave half of his weapons behind, but when he brought up the art stuff his face rippled with confusion. Jason waited for the question, but it never came. The kid hesitated, opened his mouth, closed it, then wordlessly went back into his room.

Frowning, Jason waited for Damian to come back. He wasn’t sure if he was glad Damian wasn’t questioning him, because it _did_ make things easier, or if he was concerned that Damian was so ingrained to obey authority figures. It was possible he was only being like this with him, but he seriously doubted it. And that kind of totally blind obedience was dangerous.

He quickly wiped the frown away as the door opened again. It had only taken Damian a little less than a minute to do everything he needed. The art supplies were neatly stacked in his arms.

“I can put those in my bag,” Jason offered, patting his shoulder straps. “So you don’t have to carry them everywhere.”

Damian nodded, handing them over. Jason couldn’t see the inside of the pencil case, but it sounded and felt pretty full. Hopefully, Damian had grabbed everything he’d need.

As he packed the supplies away, Damian finally asked the question. “Where are we going?”

“Oh, several places,” Jason answered vaguely. He had a sneaking suspicion Damian would be upset if he learned there wasn’t going to be quite as much training as he thought there was going to be. His hope was that once they actually started doing stuff the kid would loosen up but for now, he wanted to reveal as little as possible without lying. “We’ll be going to that nearby town for a bit,” he admitted, so the kid at least had some idea of what was going on. “Have you ever been?” he asked, curious.

Damian shook his head. “No, I know it is there, but I’ve never had a reason to go,” he informed him, dismissive. “It’s nowhere important.”

“Hmm,” Jason hummed noncommittedly. “Well, we’re going there now. It’s a pretty short hike through the woods. There’ll be a path we can get on halfway there. The weather’s supposed to be nice all day so no need to worry about that.” There was an ever so slight chill in the air but it was nothing compared to how cold Gotham would be this time of year.

“Very well,” Damian said, nodding. He didn’t speak again until they reached the front door. Jason had already stepped through the door when Damian suddenly halted behind him. Puzzled, Jason looked back at the child questioningly. 

“Mother knows we are leaving, correct?” Damian asked, hovering in the doorway. “We have her permission?”

Ah. “Course, kid. I talked to her this morning.” He flashed a grin. “She’s cool with it. Just said to make sure we avoid cameras.”

The confirmation seemed to settle Damian’s nerves and his stance relaxed. He followed Jason out into the fresh morning air and shut the door behind them.

It was a pleasant walk. They didn’t talk much though. Jason tried to start a conversation a few times, but Damian wasn’t in a talkative mood. Maybe because he didn’t feel as secure as he did in the house. The kid had also taken to scanning the surrounding forest constantly, whether for enemies, animals, or both, Jason didn’t know. The older boy didn’t mind much, they’d have plenty of time to talk later.

After about thirty minutes of walking, they arrived at the town. It was a nice place, very scenic. While not being super well known, it was no Barcelona or Madrid, it did still attract a fair amount of tourists. Not so much that it was crowded, but enough that no one would bat an eye at two strangers who didn’t quite look like they belonged. And with his Lazarus pit induced growth spurt, Jason could pass as acceptably old enough that no one would be concerned as to where the adult was.

Once they were in the town proper, Jason led Damian to a little restaurant he’d found during his research last night (technically very early that morning). It got excellent reviews.

Damian had shown some interest as they walked through the streets, glancing around with a curious expression. He’d also eyed literally every person they’d passed with suspicion, but it wasn’t full blown paranoia. Fortunately, these looks went unnoticed as Damian had put his hood up as they entered the town. He looked adorable.

And now Damian had turned his scrutiny to the sign above the entrance. “Why are we here?” He sounded genuinely confused.

“For breakfast, of course,” Jason said, opening the door. A bell jingled above their heads to announce their entrance. The sign said they could choose their own tables.

Damian glanced around scornfully. “If the first thing we were going to do here was eat breakfast, why did we not just eat back at the house?” The house, Jason noted, not home. “Mother even has a private chef. This excursion is pointless.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Jason chose a booth in the middle edge section. It gave him a good view of all the exits. Sliding his backpack off his shoulders, he placed it beside him on the seat. A grouchy Damian took the seat across from him.

“Breakfast is not meant to be fun, Jason. It is meant to give you the needed sustenance for the day.” Even as he said it though, he was reaching for the menus at the end of the table.

Jason grinned, reaching for a menu of his own. “You just haven’t been doing it right.” Glancing down at the menu, he saw it had Spanish with English underneath. Not that it really mattered, they were both fluent. “Order whatever you want.”

Damian nodded in acknowledgement and began to silently peruse the menu. Jason did the same. When the waitress (she introduced herself as Lucia) came to take their drink orders (she spoke English well enough, so they just used that), they both ordered milk. Jason had been tempted by one of the teas, but he didn’t think that particular flavor would mix well with the bacon he was planning to get. Maybe he’d pick up a cup on the way back.

As Lucia went off to get their drinks, Jason put his menu down. He knew what he wanted. Across the table, Damian was still reading his menu. Between the menu blocking the bottom half of his face and the hood blocking part of the top, all Jason could really see were his eyes, which were cast downwards towards the menu.

“You made your mind up, Dami?” he asked. When Damian didn’t answer immediately, Jason continued. “You can have the breakfast sampler if you’re not sure,” he suggested. “It’s got a little bit of everything.” It was one of the more expensive things on the menu but it was Talia’s money.

Without looking up, Damian replied. “I don’t eat meat.”

Jason jerked in his seat, staring across the table. “You don’t?! Why not?” He hadn’t known that. Damian hadn’t told him that.

“I have no desire to kill innocent animals so I can eat their corpses,” Damian said haughtily. He glanced up at Jason. “I have no issue if you wish to eat meat,” he continued more mildly, “But I choose not to.”

Jason’s eyebrows furrowed as he scrambled to make sense of this new piece of information about his technical little brother.

“…you’re a vegetarian?” Vegetarian, not vegan. Damian had already ordered milk. Not eating juicy, delicious meat was bad enough, but he honestly had no idea how vegans survived.

Damian nodded.

“…And Talia and your grandfather are- okay with that?” He was shocked they allowed it. Never in a million years would Ra’s support his grandson’s ‘weakness’ for insignificant animals. And while Talia wasn’t as bad as her father, Jason didn’t see her being particularly pleased about it either. And they had to know. Or at least, Talia had to know. Thankfully, from what Damian had told him he didn’t think the old bastard spent much time, if any, with his grandson.

“Yes,” Damian said in a voice that indicated he did not want to talk about it.

Well that was… Was that even safe? Concern bubbled in Jason’s chest. It was one thing when an adult did it, but Damian was still a very young boy with a lot of growing to do. Was he getting all the nutrients he needed without eating meat? Jason supposed Talia was rich enough she could afford whatever supplements her son needed. There was no way she’d allow it if she thought it was physically damaging her son. So it must be fine.

Jason didn’t agree with Damian. He loved animals and would never kill or injure one without good reason, but some animals were meant to be eaten, whether by humans or some other creature. As long as the animals were raised and killed humanely, Jason had no issues with eating meat. But so long as Damian’s diet wasn’t harming him, Jason wasn’t going to try to talk the kid out of it. It actually warmed his heart and brought him a bit of relief that Damian was capable of that kind of compassion despite his upbringing. From what Jason had seen, that compassion didn’t extend to humans, but it was proof that the League hadn’t stripped him of those feelings completely. And that those feelings could evolve and grow, given proper guidance.

“Alright then,” he said. “They do have plenty of things without meat. Or we could ask them to leave the meat out.”

“I have come to a decision,” Damian confirmed. “Though it will undoubtedly be inferior to the food we could have had back at the house, it should at least be passable.”

Jason’s lips quirked upwards. “Gotta change things up sometimes, Dami. And this place gets great reviews.”

Rolling his eyes, Damian placed the menu down on the table and leaned back in his seat. He crossed his arms with a snort. “There are people who give McDonalds good reviews. It is hardly a measurement of quality.”

“I’m shocked you know what McDonalds is,” Jason teased, amused. Sure, they were everywhere but Damian was both rich and a shut in. He’d certainly had never _eaten_ at one. “And you actually have to read the reviews, which I did, to make judgement. The people say this place’s food is delicious.”

“_The people_ have low standards.”

Lucia came back with their drinks a minute later and they each placed their orders. Jason ordered a hearty meal of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, and churros. Damian got one of the omelets and hash browns. Then Jason ordered another plate of churros because apparently Damian had never had one before and that was something that needed immediate correction.

It was harder to talk out in the open like this, there was so much that couldn’t be said in public. There were more people in the restaurant too now that it was later in the morning. It was fine though, they’d still been able to carry a decent conversation, mostly focusing on Damian’s art.

Jason thought the food lived up to its reputation. It wasn’t Alfred’s cooking but nothing was. Damian didn’t give it any praise, but he ate all of it and deemed it ‘acceptable’, which was Damian speak for he liked it. The churros in particular had piqued his interest and he’d tried them with each of the sauces as well as the hot chocolate Jason had ordered for him. Kid wouldn’t say it out loud but Jason could tell he liked the fried treats.

Once they finished their meal and paid the bill, Jason grabbed his backpack and hesitated beside the table. He knew Europeans didn’t tip like people in the U.S., but he’d feel bad not leaving her anything. Lucia had been a good waitress. Plus, she’d earned bonus points for telling him his little brother was cute when she brought out the second plate of churros. Damian had scowled but the truth was the truth.

After laying down a modest tip, enough that it would be a pleasant surprise but not so much it would be creepy, he led Damian out the door.

Jason was pleased with how things were going so far. They were making excellent time. By the time they made their way there, it would be ten o’clock and they’d be there right at opening.

Damian trailed slightly behind him as they walked through the Spanish streets, so much more sporadic than the preplanned streets of Gotham. That didn’t stop him from immediately noticing when Damian suddenly halted after they’d gone just a couple blocks.

Frowning, Jason stopped as well, eyes darting around for what might be the cause. He didn’t see any signs of danger, there weren’t even any people particularly nearby, but his hand twitched toward the weapons concealed inside his jacket anyway.

“Something wrong, Dami?” he checked uncertainly.

Damian raised his head so Jason could fully see his eyes under his hood. “We aren’t here for training, are we,” Damian said, accusing. 

…Dang it.

He winced internally. He’d been banking on them getting there before Damian started asking these questions. Once they got there, he knew Damian wouldn’t care anymore. Jason didn’t want to ruin the surprise.

“We will be doing some training things later,” Jason assured him gently, “but we are going to be doing some non-training things first.”

He’d known that Damian would kick up a fuss but the anger that flared in his green eyes surprised him.

“Then this is a waste of time,” Damian hissed, fists curling. “I have far more important things to be doing than traipsing around some insignificant hovel of a town.” Frustration bled into his young voice. “And you will only be here a few more days before Mother sends you on your mission. You are wasting what little time we have.”

For a moment, Jason was frozen, staring down at his angry little brother, who now also looked a little bit miserable even though the anger was still there. Then he was moving, crouching down so he and Damian were at eye level.

“Look, I know breakfast isn’t the most exciting thing,” Jason admitted, tone gentle. “But I promise you will _love_ what we are doing next, and I promise we will do some training after that.” He could just tell Damian where they were going but Jason saw an opportunity here and there was still a chance Damian would dig his prideful little heels in and refuse to go unless they were physically right in front of it. “I know we don’t have that long, but this will be worth it. Trust me, okay?”

Damian’s eyes narrowed. “Only fools give trust lightly.”

A small smile formed on Jason’s lips. “That’s fair. You’ve barely even known me a day.” Yet somehow it felt like both years and a heartbeat. “Give me the chance to earn it?”

After a few seconds of silence, Damian nodded, and Jason felt a wave of relief.

“I suppose that is a fair request,” the child said, fingers uncurling. “However, if I am displeased with this ‘non-training activity’, know that I will be very upset and will demand retribution.”

Retribution? Well, whatever, he’d said yes. His smile became full blown. “Great!” he said enthusiastically, straightening up. “We’re not too far now, it’s near the outskirts of town.”

A look of curiosity passed over Damian’s face, but he didn’t say anything more. He just followed Jason through the winding streets. 

When they finally arrived, Damian squinted disbelievingly at the sign on the fenced gate. From here, Jason had a pretty good view of the sheep pen and could see the corner of the pig pen. A barn-like structure lay a little way behind them. Damian, being much shorter, would be able to see less but he should be able to see at least the tops of the sheep. And he could definitely hear them. It had been a while, but Jason didn’t remember sheep being so loud.

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the sign, at the buildings, and back again. “Jay, why does this sign say that this is a zoo?” he asked, standing on his tiptoes to better see over the fence. “I’ve never heard of a zoo like this. It resembles more what I’ve seen described as a farm.”

“Well, apparently, they don’t really have a word for it in Spanish,” Jason explained, shrugging a shoulder. “But in English we call it a petting zoo.”

Originally, when Jason had hunkered down by his computer to research the area he’d been looking for a normal zoo. With tigers and elephants and monkeys and all that. He hadn’t had much hope, the chances of a zoo being close enough to their location was slim. But then he’d stumbled across an advertisement for this petting zoo.

He’d been thrilled at the discovery. Because really this was much better than a normal zoo. Damian would be able to pet, play with, and feed the animals rather than just look at them. Sure, it was basically a bunch of farm animals, but Jason still remembered his first time visiting the Kent farm. After spending his whole life in the city and never having been to the Gotham Zoo, those cows might as well have been white Siberian tigers and just as deadly.

Damian’s eye darted towards the sheep then back to Jason. “A petting zoo?” he asked, his voice taking on a strange quality that Jason couldn’t quite pin down. “Why do they call it that?”

“Because it is an accurate descriptor,” Jason told him, trying and failing to stifle the smile on his face. “It’s a zoo where you can pet the animals.”

Damian’s green eyes widened, making him look so much more his age. “So I can _pet_ the sheep?” he asked in a hushed, awed voice.

Ugh, he was such a cute kid. How could such a stuck-up brat also be so cute? “Yep,” Jason confirmed brightly. “The sheep and any other animals they have. We can buy some food for them too if you want to feed them.”

The child’s eyes got even bigger. “What other animals do they have?”

“Well,” Jason said, casting a look over the fence. “They definitely have sheep and pigs. And I know they have bunnies, horses, and goats. The rest we’ll have to see when we get in there.”

Damian’s head bobbed rapidly. “So can we go in now?” he asked hopefully, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Kid was practically vibrating with excitement.

Jason grinned down at him, a warm feeling spreading through his chest. “We just have to pay the entry fee at that shack over there,” he said, jerking his head at the shack a few yards to their right. “Then we’re good to go.”

They went to the sheep first. Their pen was the closest to the entrance. The wooly creatures had their full winter coats, so they were extra petable. There were a few brown ones and the rest were white. They looked a bit off from the sheep Jason was used to (being Spanish sheep rather than American) but it was nothing glaring. 

For a few seconds, Damian just stood there staring at one of the white sheep that was beside him. Then, verrry slowly, he reached out his hand. His fingers brushed against the wool.

Damian’s face lit up.

Jason was fairly certain Damian pet every animal they had, even the cat that was wandering around the area. And he didn’t mean the kid pet every type of animal, he pet each one of every type of animal at least twice. They also had to make multiple trips back to the shack for animal food since there was only so much the two of them could carry. Damian was convinced the animals would be sad if they didn’t get the same amount of food as their friends.

Jason had pet many of the animals too, of course. You don’t go to a petting zoo and not pet the animals. Plus, Damian’s excitement was contagious, and Jason didn’t want to do anything that risked dampening his mood. Jason had especially liked the rabbits. They were pretty cute, and he’d never pet one before.

As time moved forward though, a feeling of dread built up in him. Because it was going to end soon. They couldn’t stay all day. They couldn’t even stay until closing.

He’d been on alert for anyone Talia might have sent to shadow them, but nothing stood out. No sign of anyone lurking around and no giveaway that one of the other zoogoers was a spy. There were some people who didn’t have kids with them but that alone wasn’t damning. Not knowing was aggravating. 

Damian was riding the horses for a second time when Jason finally couldn’t put it off any longer. His stomach twisted as he watched Damian start to trot the horse (it was golden with a white mane and tail. A palomino, if he was remembering the term correctly) back across the small field. But he’d given him as much time as he possibly could. They’d even skipped lunch to give them extra time.

Jason’s heart sank a little more as Damian strode out of the pen. His hood had dropped at some point. All the better to see the crushing disappointment.

“Jay,” Damian said excitedly, coming up to him. “The one I rode this time was a female. Her name is Ranunculo.” Buttercup, Jason translated. “She is a very good horse. They let me feed her an apple. She ate it right out of my hand.” The kid’s eyes were glowing.

“That’s great, Dami,” Jason congratulated, managing to keep the guilt out of his voice. Honestly, he’d been surprised when Damian told him he’d never ridden before. Considering how old-fashioned Ra’s was, he’d been half expecting Damian to tell him he’d been trained to ride since birth.

“She would be a magnificent steed,” Damian mused, glancing over to where a little girl had just mounted the horse. A scowl spread across his face. “Her potential is being wasted. Reduced to giving rides for the amusement of children.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Well as one of those children, I’d think you’d be grateful. Besides, she seems happy where she is.”

Damian huffed. “I suppose,” he said sulkily. “And I’m not a child,” he added.

“Denial won’t do you any good, Dami.”

Damian started to turn back towards the barn. With a rueful sigh, Jason placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from zipping off. “I’m afraid it’s time to go, Dami,” he told him apologetically. “There’s still one more thing I need to do today, and we won’t get back in time unless we leave now.”

He could feel Damian’s shoulders droop. “Ah,” Damian said, disappointment creeping into his voice. “Very well then.”

Guilt burned his blood as the brightness that had been in Damian faded away. “I’m sorry. I put it off as long as I could.” 

Damian brushed Jason's hand off his shoulder. "No need to apologize. Really we've spent too much time here already."

Jason’s eyes widened a little. “Dami, that’s not-“

“I said it’s fine, Jason. Really,” Damian interrupted, voice now evened out. “I was under no delusion that we could spend the whole day here. I was surprised that we stayed as long as we did. This was far longer than I was expecting. And I wasn’t even expecting to be here at all when the day began.”

Kid was definitely disappointed but he’d probably have been just as disappointed if they had waited to leave until close. Still…

“We can grab some ice cream on the way out of town,” he offered as they began walking towards the exit. Ice cream usually made things better. And getting ice cream with your younger brother was, like, a brotherly tradition. It was a big brother duty. Dick had said as much multiple times.

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Ice cream?” The slight embarrassment in his voice made Jason glance down. “I am not familiar with this word. I know what ice is and what cream is, but I fail to see how the two go together. I don’t suppose you know the Arabic translation?”

It took Jason’s mind a second to process that. He’d almost forgotten English wasn’t Damian’s first language. He was so fluent and had such an extensive vocabulary. But ‘ice cream’ probably hadn’t been high on Talia’s list of words her son needed to know and it wasn’t a word he would come across in his approved books.

“Er, sorry, no,” Jason admitted, pushing open the exit gate. They continued to walk down the path. “I don’t know that one. But it’s-“ how does one describe ice cream? “- a soft, frozen, dairy dessert that is creamy and comes in lots of different flavors. Um, a lot of people eat it in a cone.” Good grief, that was terrible. This shouldn’t be that hard.

The description clearly didn’t clarify things for Damian. His eyes widened and now he really looked confused. “A cone?”

“Wait, no, not like-“ he rubbed a hand over his face, “it’s a hollow cone made of wafer so you can put your ice cream in it so you can hold it without getting messy. Then you lick it.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed. “This all sounds rather outlandish.”

Dang it. Was he describing it badly or did Damian not actually know what ice cream was? It could be one of the many things Talia had never let her son have. And it wasn’t like he’d have seen anyone else eating it, the League wasn’t known for its love of ice cream.

“It’s a thing,” he defended himself, “I’m just- oh, wait.” An idea popped into his head. “I can probably google translate it.” He twisted around to get his phone out of his backpack pocket. He grabbed his bottle of hand sanitizer too while he was in there. “Actually, I can just show you a picture.” That would be better.

He handed the sanitizer to Damian. “Here, use this,” he instructed. “Need to wash off after touching so many animals.”

The gel was blue and it had a name that told you nothing about the scent. Moonlight. What the hell did _moonlight_ smell like? Answer: it didn’t. They were just trying to make it sound fancy or mystical or whatever. Really, it was just hand sanitizer with a faint flowery scent.

Damian took it with a raised eyebrow. “You carry hand sanitizer?”

“Of course, I do. My job can be a messy one. And even if it wasn’t, I’d still carry it. The world is full of germs and you never know when you’ll touch something gross.”

Damian snorted. “It wasn’t an insult.” He uncapped the lid. “If this ice cream is cold as you say, why do you plan to get it in winter?”

Waving him off with one hand, Jason powered on his phone with the other. “Dami, I have eaten ice cream outside during a blizzard” it had been Dick’s fault, but still. If anything, he’d already been so cold he hadn’t even noticed the coldness of the ice cream. “It doesn’t need to be warm out for you to have ice cream. Besides, it isn’t winter, it’s fall and there’s barely a chill out here.”

Rolling his eyes, Damian chose not to comment and began squeezing the gel into his hands.

With that taken care of, Jason looked back down at his phone and swiped the pattern.

The world halted around him.

The notification sat at the top of his home screen. Obvious and unavoidable. The title read **Batman and Robin put Two-Face Back Behind Bars**. The image beside it showed Batman handing off a only slightly beat up Two-Face to the police. The pretender was standing only a few feet away, watching.

Sucking in a breath, Jason’s body stiffened as his gaze fixed on the image. His blood burned. His vision narrowed until the photo was all he could see. A buzzing began in his head and it seemed to spread to his ears making them ring. He couldn’t hear anything. Couldn’t see anything but the thief, the liar, and a barely scuffed up monster who would probably be out of prison by next week. Green was seeping into the edges of his vision and his grip on the phone tightened.

Something was pulling at his arm.

With a snarl, Jason snatched his arm away and took a step back. As his vision swam back into focus, he saw- Damian? Jason blinked rapidly in confusion. Damian looked openly concerned.

“Jason? You stopped walking,” Damian explained hesitantly. “You were staring at your phone and not answering me. Did you receive a message on your phone, is something wrong?”

“Wha-no, no,” Jason stumbled back another step, feeling disorientated. His blood was still pumping in his veins. “It’s, I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I just- I’m sorry. Sorry. Let’s just keep going.” How long had he been standing there just staring at his screen? It hadn’t felt like long but- “I’ll- you can just see the ice cream when we get there. I’m sure you’ll like it.”

Damian didn’t move. Uncertainty showing all over his face. “But-“

“I said let’s go!” Jason snarled and instantly loathed himself for it. He- he just needed time to calm down. Talia’s training had been helping, but he, he hadn’t been expecting it. It had blindsided him. He felt utterly rattled.

“I’m sorry, Dami. I didn’t mean to snap. Please, let’s just go,” he pleaded, shoving the phone into his pocket. 

He was furious at himself. They’d been having a virtually perfect day so far and now he had gone and fucked it up. He’d just barely passed the twenty-four-hour mark and he’d already managed to do something to make Damian think he was unstable. He wouldn’t trust Jason now. Why would he?

Damian slowly nodded, expression unreadable. “If that is what you wish.”

Neither of them said anything as they continued down the path, but Jason was internally berating himself the whole way. Damian put his hood back up as they went deeper into town.

The ice cream place was slightly off their path but that was fine. Jason had taken note of it when he was doing his research last night. He’d memorized every possible place he and Damian might go. He pretty much had the layout of the whole town in his head.

Unsurprisingly, Damian really hadn’t had ice cream. Kid started simple. Two scoops, one vanilla, one chocolate, in a cone. For himself, Jason got vanilla in the smallest cone they had. He didn’t deserve any ice cream, but he needed to eat at least some to make Damian more comfortable with it.

The tension had lessened significantly while they had their ice cream. They still weren’t talking though. Not until they were halfway up the street and Damian suddenly spoke up.

“Retribution shall not be necessary.”

Startled by the sudden breach in silence, Jason looked down at the boy. “What?”

Damian crossed his arms. “The petting zoo was- enjoyable. Retribution shall not be necessary.”

Jason blinked. “Is that your way of saying thank you?” Why was he thanking him now?

Huffing, Damian looked away slightly. "Believe what you will."

Jason smiled a little. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” The guilt was still there but the last bit of tension finally dissipated. 

After about another thirty seconds of silent walking, Damian turned to scan behind them. “Where are we going?” he asked. “This is not the way we came.”

Jason shook his head. “We’re taking the long way back.”

“Oh,” Damian said. He seemed to ponder this. “Earlier, you said you had something else you needed to do today.”

“Yeah, I did,” Jason acknowledged, keeping his gaze ahead of him.

“What is it you need to do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the next one will definitely be the last chapter in this story. A few big decisions will be made. I have part of it written from when I spilt it into two chapters so hopefully it should be up fairly soon. 
> 
> Please comment your thoughts and feedback. I love to read them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Damian hang out some more. And Jason makes some very important decisions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this chapter turned out to be long. I'm glad I split off chapter four or this would have been an absolute monster. I hope you enjoy.

It was nice, being out in nature like this.

Growing up, he’d never left the city. This was probably part of why he had a greater appreciation than most for the lushness and tranquility that could be found in nature. It had freaked him out a little at first, all being so strange and, well, unnatural to him, as silly as calling nature unnatural was. Once he’d gotten used to it though, he loved it.

Going through the woods with Damian like this reminded Jason of the times he and Dick would hike together in the woods of the Manor’s massive grounds. They had done it fairly regularly Before.

The memories brought a pang of regret.

He quickly shoved it away though. He needed to focus on Damian right now, not reminisce on what he had lost.

They’d left the path behind long ago, but Jason knew exactly where they were going. He may or may not have spent hours scouting out the forest last night, searching for the best paths and clearings. The internet couldn’t do everything. He hadn’t gotten much sleep, but he’d slept on the plane, so it all evened out. Mostly. He assumed Talia knew he had left the building, but she hadn’t said anything. 

“Almost there,” Jason assured Damian, hopping over a small bush. The kid seemed less hypervigilant than he had been their first trip through the woods. Now it was just normal vigilance. Hopefully, this was a sign that Damian was more comfortable now with their situation. 

“And where precisely is _here_?” Damian asked, eyes darting around as if searching for some secret.

“Well, nowhere really,” Jason said with a shrug. “Just a spot in the woods I found where I can run some tests, get some practice in. It’s secluded, well-hidden, and has enough space. Only thing I won’t be able to use is the explosives.” They were pretty far out, but he didn’t want to risk anyone hearing the booms.

Damian arched an eyebrow. “You brought advanced weaponry?” His gaze shifted to Jason’s backpack, eyes narrowing as if he was trying to develop x-ray vision to reveal what lay inside. “Will we be training outdoors?”

“Well,” Jason said, veering to go around a rock, “we can definitely do some training, but I also need to get in some practice with my suit.” He shook his backpack. “I’m going to need to use it for my mission, but I haven’t used it in a while. And I did tell you I’d give you a demonstration.”

Damian perked up like a puppy, green eyes brightening. “You brought your Red X suit?”

“Yep,” Jason confirmed, popping the ‘p’. He recognized the enthusiasm radiating from the kid. It was the same he himself had felt when Dick had shown him all the weapons and gadgets in the Robin suit for the first time. And this suit had way cooler stuff with the added bonus of not being a fashion disaster. He still wasn’t sure how Dick had managed that. It was a sad, sad thing when he was less impressed with the technology that could freaking teleport than he was that Dick had actually created something fashionable. He was sure it was just a fluke though, no way had Dick suddenly developed a sense of fashion while Jason had been pushing up daisies.

The kid didn’t have to wait long. They arrived at the clearing just two minutes later. “Here we are,” he said, gesturing before them.

It was a fairly large space. Very little to trip on. There was a rocky patch on one side with several large rocks jutting out of the ground. Some little purplish pink flowers that probably didn’t have much longer until the cold killed them off for the year dotted the area.

With Damian in tow, Jason walked up to one of the larger rocks. It was the perfect size and shape for a seat. He slid his backpack off his shoulders and placed it on one side of the rock.

Unzipping the backpack, he took Damian’s drawing supplies from the top and placed them aside. Then he dug in further, hands clasping around the case that held his suit.

Excitement tingled in his fingers. It had been a _long_ time since he’d worn the suit. Many months. He hadn’t wanted to use it as a crutch while training. But while Jason didn’t _need_ the fancy suit, using it was still a shitload of fun. And it did make most things easier.

“Alrighty,” Jason said, straightening. “I’ve gotta go change. Should only take a minute, but you can start drawing something if you want.” He pushed the art supplies a few inches closer to Damian.

“I can hardly get anything done in a mere minute,” Damian argued. He hopped up and grabbed his supplies regardless.

Jason shrugged. “You can at least start something. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to. It was only a suggestion.”

Damian huffed, but settled on the rock, opened the sketchbook, and began scanning the clearing for a subject.

Satisfied, Jason ducked behind a cluster of rocks.

Technically, he could have just changed in front of the kid, it wasn’t like he was going to strip down butt naked. Still, he didn’t like exposing himself like that in front of others and doing it in front of a little kid felt wrong. At least this early on. Between injuries and changing outfits, Alfred and Dick had seen him without clothes many, many times but they were family. It was different. He and Damian weren’t quite there yet.

Fifty seconds to change into his Red X suit. Abominable.

Jason scowled, turning the skull mask in his hand (he didn’t want to put it on until Damian saw him without it). It had taken him 14.89 seconds to change into the Robin suit. Being able to change in and out of your suit quickly was a vital skill to the job. He’d have to work on it. Not now though.

He was pleased that the suit still fit, though he knew he’d have to make adjustments in the next three to six months. A smug grin appeared on his face. He was growing much faster now that his childhood malnourishment had been erased by the pit. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t preen a little over his newfound height. Alfred and Dick had always said he’d grow, but they’d just been trying to make him feel better. Little Jason had pretty much accepted that he was doomed to be a shorty. He’d only prayed that he at least be ever so slightly taller than Dick. Even just half an inch. And now look at him, already taller than Dick and still growing. Six feet might not be just a dream anymore. Maybe he was setting his hopes too high but now it was at least possible.

As soon as Jason strode back into the clearing, Damian’s head snapped to look at him, studying him with an intense curiosity.

“So this is your Red X suit,” Damian stated, putting aside his art supplies and hopping down from the rock. He trotted over to get a closer look.

“Yep,” Jason bragged, placing the skull mask over his face. He activated the voice changer in the mask and his voice distorted. “Both stylish and functional.”

“Hmm,” Damian hummed, grabbing at the edge of his cape and bringing it closer to his face for inspection. He rubbed to fabric between his fingers, testing the material. “It is not bad,” he decided, rare approval in his voice. “It doesn’t assault my eyes like many of those so-called heroes and ridiculous villains. Reasonably threatening. And it certainly hides your identity well. It is only the stupidity of the masses that keeps some people’s identities secret. What are the suit’s functions?”

Jason grinned underneath the mask. “Stand back, Dami, and prepare to be impressed.”

And impressed he was.

This feeling was unfamiliar to Jason. He was no stranger to showing off, he did that all the time, but this was different. Before now, showing off had always been a means of proving himself. A test of worthiness. Now though, he wasn’t just trying to impress (and he was trying to impress the kid), he was also trying to teach. This was something Jason had never experienced. Sure, he’d shown Dick some street moves every once and a while, but he’d never really got the feeling he was actually teaching Dick something he didn’t know. No one had ever- looked up to him. Robin sure, but Jason? Everyone, and he meant _everyone_, had only ever looked down on Jason, whether in a mean-spirited way or not. But Damian was different.

It felt good. 

Each gadget Jason pulled out earned him more of Damian’s interest. The kid didn’t even comment on how Jason was obviously rusty. Not as rusty as Jason had feared, however. It was like riding a bicycle, except way more fun. And explodey.

He doubted the kid had ever seen gadgets like these. Or at least, he hadn’t seen them up close and in person.

X-blades (or X-arangs. He still hadn’t settled on a name. It wasn’t at the top of his priority list) that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Different variations of gooey Xs that had so many uses. Electric Xs that could either shock an enemy or fry electronics. Beams of red energy that came in the appropriate X style. Image was important after all. Red-tint smoke bombs, though these were something Damian surely had tons of experience with. Couldn’t test the night vision here, but he’d test that later.

Then there were the gadgets he’d added when he’d rebuilt the belt. As cool as the suit was, it hadn’t had everything. Still didn’t, but now it had more.

Funnily enough, in a very Batman move, Dick’s notes said he’d designed his suit to be effective (though non-lethal) against his teammates. Not Slade. Dick had known so little about Slade at the time. He hadn’t realized just how big a threat the man was and what gadgets would be most effective against him. The suit’s main purpose had been concealing his identity and incapacitating his friends.

It was weird. The whole thing was very out of character for him. Slade must have really gotten under his skin. Jason knew what that was like. At least the bastard was dead now.

Jason hadn’t gone too crazy with his additions, he only had so much resources and free time.

The first thing he’d added was a rebreather. One version to go over his mask and one that went directly over his mouth. Swimming away from the observatory while dodging Dick’s team had sucked. The swim to and from their island had also been a hassle. A rebreather was an obvious add.

Not something he could use here, no water, but he already knew they worked, and it wasn’t something one really needed to practice using.

Another gadget he’d added was a sonic X-arang. A useful tool for any arsenal. Something Dick apparently hadn’t deemed necessary for the _single mission_ he had made the highly advanced suit for. He wasn’t sure if the decision had stemmed from the traditional Bat paranoia or some misguided attempt to protect his friends by shouldering everything on himself. Probably a mix of both. 

The last thing he’d added to his arsenal was flashbangs, for obvious reasons.

He’d saved the best for last.

Rolling his shoulders, Jason looked back to the other side of the clearing where Damian had once again taken his seat upon the rock.

He smirked. “Wanna see something _really_ cool, Dami?”

“Tt, why would you ask such a question?” Damian scoffed, crossing his arms over his small chest. “Of course I want to see something you deem impressive, though I am sure my standards for that praise are far higher than yours.”

Did Damian know how adorable the way he talked was? No, definitely no. Jason could easily see Damian really getting under people’s skin though. This was Damian both liking him (at least Jason was pretty sure he liked him) and not really trying to insult him. What was the kid like when he was actually _trying_ to insult someone? God, the brat would be an absolute _terror_. 

“Alright, Dami. Make sure you watch closely.” This was going to blow the squirt’s mind.

Jason activated the teleporter.

Damian’s eyes widened as Jason seemly vanished. There was no time to look around however because a heartbeat later he leapt into a defensive position when Red X suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

Jason frowned unseen at the knife now gripped in Damian’s hand. Probably should have given the kid a bit more warning. Getting stabbed by a seven-year-old was not the way he wanted to go the second round.

Damian got over his surprise quickly. Putting away the knife, he glanced over to where Jason had been standing just a second earlier. Then he looked back up to Jason, a gleam in his eyes. “You possess the ability of teleportation?”

“Yep,” Jason affirmed, grinning. He’d almost forgotten how much of a thrill he got off of zapping around like that. “Pretty neat, huh?”

Rather than gape at the technology though, Damian was calm and analytical. The resemblance was uncanny. The expression on his face, his posture, his appearance, it all reminded Jason of Bruce so much his lips curled into a snarl.

It was pathetic.

He forcefully shoved the snarl away, frustration leaking into his thoughts. He was once again grateful he was wearing a mask. He’d already screwed up once today, didn’t need to make anything worse.

Damian’s questions came quick and precise. “How far can you go? How much power does it drain each jump? What powers the suit? Can you teleport through walls? What are its limitations?”

Jason’s first instinct was to start explaining the scientific process behind how the suit worked. But then he remembered Damian wasn’t _that_ freakishly smart and the kid would only get upset at not understanding. Guess he’d have to nerd out in the privacy of his head. Not that he was a nerd. Because he wasn’t. He was an intellectual. Big difference.

Crossing his arms, he tilted his head in thought. “Eh, I can teleport a good 94 feet, 28.65 meters for you metric users. Wouldn’t risk pushing it any farther than that. It _can_ do multiple jumps in a row, especially if they’re short jumps, but I have to be careful about overheating. That would-” best case scenario, disintegrate him and anyone or anything around him “-be really bad. Big or consecutive jumps also take more power, but I can store a lot. Still, you never want to be wasteful. I can go through walls, but it’s really best to be able to see where you are going. Otherwise, you risk landing inside another object. Not 100% sure what the damage would be, but it wouldn’t be pretty. Or fixable.” Dying from getting his atoms fused into a chair or something was also not a way he wanted to go second time around. “The suit does have some programs built in that help avoid that happening, but it can only do so much.”

Damian nodded in understanding. “What powers it?” he inquired, eyes scanning the suit. “Such feats must require a great deal of power, yet your suit contains no obvious power source.”

Grinning, Jason looked down at himself, admiring the sleek design. “Yeah, it’s powered by an element called Xenothium. Really packs a punch.”

Damian’s expression turned thoughtful. “The name sounds familiar, but I can recall nothing about it. I’m sure such a powerful element is quite dangerous?” Most people would sound scared or worried when asking such a question, but Damian only sounded impressed.

Jason shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah, super dangerous. If you don’t know how to handle it. It’s not a problem for me. Still, not something I just play around with.”

The next question Damian asked completely threw Jason off. “Must the voice changer be active when the mask is on?” he inquired abruptly; irritation clear in his voice.

His body gave a startled jerk, confusion dancing through his thoughts. “What? No, I can turn it on and off-” Then it hit him. “Oh, _oh_, do you not like it?” Was the unfamiliar voice weirding him out? The full head mask probably wasn’t helping either. They’d only known each other for, like, two days but-

His hands scrambled to turn off the device.

An emotion flashed through Damian’s eyes, replaced almost immediately by a heated glare. Jason was pretty sure he was right, but no way would the kid ever admit it.

“No,” Damian denied testily. “It’s fine. It does its job well. It’s just-“ his eyes darted towards the ground then snapped back to Jason. “There is no one else here. I just fail to see the reason to have it active at this time.”

“Yeah, sure.” His real voice now coming through the mask. He briefly considered taking the mask off entirely, but the kid would probably take that as condescending. “No big deal. Just wanted to make sure it was working. And it is. So all good. I’ll just leave it off for now. Like you said, no point in using it now.”

Damian still seemed to take it as an insult.

His childish face twisted into a scowl. “I was merely pointing it out, Jason.” He began stalking back to the rock. An obvious retreat to try and hide his embarrassment. “I am going to continue my drawing. Inform me if you need any assistance with your training.”

Jason watched as the kid picked up his sketchbook and flipped it open. This was good. Damian would focus on drawing and forget his embarrassment (even though he had nothing to be embarrassed about) in five minutes. And he’d wanted Damian to get a chance to draw anyway.

“Alright. We don’t have too long though,” he warned. “Maybe an hour. I’ll give you a ten minutes heads up.”

Damian nodded distractedly, already buried in art supplies. Jason wondered what he was drawing. His training was scaring the animals away, unfortunately, so his favorite subjects weren’t around. He’d see if Damian would show him later.

For the next forty-five minutes, Jason focused on refamiliarizing himself with the suit. Thankfully, he fell back into it pretty quickly. He’d trained with it hardcore before beginning his training with Talia and having rebuilt the belt himself, he knew the suit inside and out. He’d be fine using it in the near future. Better than fine.

Jason had just finished practicing forming Xs and throwing them at various targets (all of which he’d hit dead on) he’d chosen around the area. He turned back to see how Damian was holding up. Kid was still hunched over his sketchbook, an adorable look of concentration on his face. He looked happy. 

The happiness wouldn’t be super obvious to most people, but Jason had spent a lot of time around people who had the emotional range of a brick. And Damian’s brickness shared a lot of similarities to a certain brick he knew. He could tell the kid was enjoying himself. That he was happy. A person just passing by would look at Damian, in his non assassin clothes, no weapons in sight, and colored pencils in hand, and think he was just a normal seven-year-old. 

The scene caused his heart to swell. Then plunge into ice. His blood ran cold, heart thumping loudly in his chest, breath catching in his throat. Because this was it.

If he was going to take Damian from the League, from his grandfather, now would be the time to do it. Even if the League had sent their spies to watch them, he could probably lose them with a few jumps. Damian was small enough (God, he was so small) to teleport with him without any real problem. The only thing he couldn’t leave behind was his suit and he already had it.

His gloved hands clenched into fists.

He would lose Talia’s support, of course, but he didn’t _need_ it. It was an advantage, but he could fulfill his plans in other ways. He- he was even willing to- Jason’s stomach clenched painfully and he was hit by a wave of nausea- delay, his plan a bit, if that meant Damian could be safe and happy. He could-

No. A feeling of defeat washed over him, fists flopping limply to his sides.

He couldn’t.

As tempting as the rather impulsive thought of stealing Damian away was, Jason wasn’t stupid. Ra’s had let Jason go. Partly because he was of no more use to the old bastard while imprisoned in his dungeon, and partly because of Talia’s interference. He knew the old coot wanted to use him as a weapon against Batman. The thought that he was, even in a roundabout way, doing something that the bastard wanted pissed him off. But he couldn’t help that his plans semi-aligned with Ra’s’ desires.

Taking his grandson though? Supposed heir to his legacy? Ra’s would _never_ give up hunting them. And this time, Talia would help him. Hell, she’d disemboweled him herself for slighting her and stealing her son away. Jason was completely alone, a ghost to the rest of the world. He just didn’t have the means to hide and protect them from the full force of the League. 

And that wasn’t even the biggest problem.

Even if by some miracle he figured out a way to evade the League, Damian wouldn’t _want_ to leave. If Jason tried to take him as things were now, Damian would see it as a betrayal and kidnapping. The kid would fight tooth and dagger every step Jason managed to drag him to get back to the League. With Damian’s high skill level and Jason’s unwillingness to hurt him, even if the League didn’t come after them at all, it would be nearly impossible to keep the kid with him.

Impatience and frustration warred within him. Damian didn’t see yet that the League was evil. Kid thought he was the heir to some great and noble empire and saw his grandfather as a god. Jason knew how the League viewed defectors. There was no greater evil than defecting. And right now, Damian would believe the same thing.

So, as much as Jason absolutely hated it to the very core of his being, he’d have to leave Damian where he was for now. As bad as it was, Damian wasn’t in mortal danger. It was a painfully low bar to set because no one in their right mind would look at Damian’s situation and not see horrific abuse. However, as bad of a mother as Talia was, she did really seem to love her son. In her own way. Unfortunately, her way involved physically and mentally abusing him in the name of preparing him for his ‘great’ destiny, but he didn’t believe Talia would allow Damian to die. Ra’s posed the far greater threat, but Damian had made it out like seeing his grandfather was like seeing a unicorn. Or a vampire, that fit Ra’s way better. If Jason had to guess, he’d say Ra’s thought Damian was still too young to be worth his personal time. When he got older though…

For now, it was better to stay on the Al Ghuls’ good sides. That way, he could keep close to Damian. Keep an eye on him, slowly pull him away from the League’s poisonous ideology, protect him when necessary, plan, and wait for his opportunity. It was better than trying to take him now, almost certainly failing to keep him, and then losing what little power he had over Damian’s life.

But if that line was ever crossed from bad to horrific, if Damian’s life was ever on the line, he was taking the kid no matter what and no power in the universe would stop him. The ferocity of the protectiveness that surged through him was shockingly strong for a kid he’d only known for two days, but the urge was undeniable. He’d kill every member of the League if that was what it took.

“Why are you staring at me?”

Damian’s sudden question startled him from his brooding but being quick on his feet was one of his many talents.

“I wasn’t staring,” he defended, even if he might have been staring a little. He brought up a hand to tap at the edges of his lenses. His tone became slightly playful. “I’m wearing a mask.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “As if such a thing could fool my heightened senses. That mask doesn’t hide everything.”

Oh well, he’d tried. He gave a shrug. “Got a lot on my mind,” he explained vaguely. The sun was getting very low in the sky. Colors would start bleeding across the sky soon as the sun finished its decent for the day.

He walked over to the kid, plopping down to sit beside him. “We’ve got about ten minutes left if we want to get back before dark,” he declared. Jason pulled off the mask as well as the hood, so both his face and hair were free. His hair was a bit of a mess now, and he ran a hand through it in an attempt to fix it. He grumbled internally. This would be easier with a mirror.

Giving up on the hair, he leaned over to inspect the page Damian working on. “What did you end up drawing?” he asked.

Once again, the art was outstanding for someone Damian’s age. Using colored pencils, the kid had drawn very detailed sketches of the flowers dotting the area. The flowers’ purplish pink petals spread out in a star-like shape with several white stamens poking out of the center.

“This is really good, Dami,” Jason praised warmly. “You really nailed the colors and shading of the petals.” Jason reached down and plucked one of the flowers that was growing by his feet. He held it near the page comparatively. “Do you know what they are?”

Damian shook his head, but he looked pleased by the compliment. “I have little use for such information. Do you know what they are?”

“Nope,” Jason said, letting the flower fall to the ground. “I probably know more about species of flowers than most people, but I’m no expert.”

He’d gone through a phase of intense flower research at one point. Poison Ivy had been on the loose so Jason had taken some time to study various species of flowers with the goal of being able to tell which ones might try to kill him. Because that was his life. Mostly, he’d been on alert for mutations. If a flower looked wrong, it was probably going to spray him with one of Ivy’s shitty ass pollens. His research had helped him on occasion, but he was still no expert on flowers, especially little wildflowers like these.

Damian hummed neutrally. He seemed distracted but it was hard to tell since he wasn’t making eye contact. The tip of his pencil tapped thoughtfully against the paper.

Should he ask? He didn’t see a reason not to. Kid could just not answer if that was what he wanted. And if it was something about the League or his mom, Damian would be more comfortable asking out here, away from prying ears. “Something on your mind, Dami?”

Damian said nothing, eyes remaining cast downward.

After a few seconds with no reply, Jason assumed the kid didn’t want to talk. That was fine. He wouldn’t force the kid. Kid might’ve not even been thinking of anything really worth discussing. Maybe he was just enjoying being outside for once. Kid was way too pale, Talia probably only let him outside to climb Everest or whatever insane things she considered training. Jason was going to have to find a way to get the kid some more sun. Just another thing to add to his constantly growing list of things he needed to do to counter Talia’s neglect as a parent.

Yet, despite Talia’s obvious failings, Jason couldn’t bring himself to hate her. Given who her dad was, it was a miracle she hadn’t turned out worse. As for her mom, he knew almost nothing about her. Some European girl, Meli-something. He couldn’t even imagine what kind of woman would want to get it on with Ra’s Al Ghul. Actually, he could imagine many types of women who would want in on someone so rich and powerful, but none of them were good. Not that her personality really mattered. Batman had told him that she’d died when Talia was very young (probably from Ra’s killing her) so Talia had only had her lunatic father growing up.

Well, nothing he could do about any of that. He’d deal with Talia as things came.

Jason stood up with a stretch. “You should start packing up. I’ll-“

“How bad was it?” The question was firm, but Damian still hadn’t looked up.

Jason halted midstep, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Where had this come from? He tried to puzzle out which bad thing (because a _lot_ of bad things had happened to him over his life) Damian was referring to but came up blank. They’d just been talking about flowers for goodness sake.

“Um, could you be a little more specific?”

“Your injuries,” Damian clarified which again, didn’t narrow things down much. “When you entered the pit.” Jason’s heart made a valiant attempt at tearing itself out of his chest “how severe were they? They must have been extreme to merit a dip in a pit, especially since you are not an Al Ghul.” Damian finally raised his head to study a now very uncomfortable Jason.

Panic buzzed through Jason’s brain. “What makes you think I’ve been in a pit?” he asked, unable to keep the shakiness from his voice.

Damian snorted humorlessly. “I am the heir to the Al Ghul line. The pits are my birthright. I know its aftereffects. Your eyes turned greener during your little- outburst, earlier. That is one of the most common side effects.”

Crap, the eye thing again? There _had_ to be a way to fix that. It drew too much attention and was apparently a dead giveaway to way more people than it seemed like it should.

Jason’s panic ebbed significantly. Damian was only asking about injuries, not death. The pits couldn’t bring people back to life after all. Maybe if you died right next to one and had only been dead for fifteen minutes when they toss you in. Lazarus Pits couldn’t do full on resurrections. Unless they could and the Al Ghuls were lying, which would shock no one ever. But in this case, it was most likely the truth. If the pits could bring the dead back to life, that would mean Ra’s already had his oh-so-precious immortality so his desperation would make no sense.

After a short pause to gather his thoughts, Jason let out a sigh. “It was brain damage primarily,” he admitted haltingly. He would rather talk to Damian about almost anything that wasn’t this, but Damian already knew too much. If he stayed tight-lipped and mysterious about this, the kid would just dig on his own and there was too much Jason didn’t want him to find.

“Lotta head damage via repeated crowbar to the head,” he continued, voice gaining a false steadiness. His skin crawled as echoes of cackling laughter that he knew weren’t real bounced through his skull. “The suffocation afterward didn’t help. It was- I was basically a walking corpse. I don’t remember that time much now.” Something he was very grateful for. “Eventually Talia decided the pit was the only way to fix me.”

He didn’t tell Damian that he’d died. Or that he’d somehow awoken in his grave months later, scared and confused and had broken himself in order to escape. Or that his grandfather had imprisoned him, _experimented_ on him, _tortured_ him for what had felt like forever even though in reality it had only been about six months. Because Damian didn’t need to know. Kid didn’t need to know he’d died or the circumstances of his return to life or what his ever so honorable grandfather had done to him. Jason honestly had no idea how Damian would react to learning how Ra’s had treated him and now wasn’t the time to find out.

The description of his injuries alone didn’t seem to faze the kid. Jason felt another flare of anger at thinking of all the things Damian’s crappy upbringing had probably desensitized him to. However, the kid did sound vaguely upset as he asked, “And who inflicted these injuries? How did someone as skilled as you come to be so grievously wounded?”

Jason’s eyes narrowed. “I was betrayed,” he hissed, remembering so clearly the worry in her eyes that he’d thought had been for him. He’d been so stupid. Even after she’d pulled out the gun, it had taken him a few seconds, time he hadn’t had, to process it. His brief moment of confusion had cost him everything. The clown had cracked him over the head and the beating had begun. “And handed over to a madman.” No, calling that freak a man of any sort gave him too much humanity. Joker was a monster.

This revelation evoked a much more passionate reaction from Damian than hearing about his injuries had. “Betrayed?!” Damian fumed, green eyes blazing. “By whom?” The murderous intent in those words obvious.

Jason shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said frigidly, flicking a hand dismissively. “She’s dead now.”

The fire in Damian’s eyes receded. “Good,” he approved, sounding pleased. He began packing his pencils away in a systematic fashion that implied each pencil had its own particular place. “As is the proper fate for all traitors.”

Yeah, trying to outright convince the kid to leave the League now definitely wouldn’t go over well.

“Yeah, well, whatever, it’s in the past now.” A thought suddenly struck him, and a new and different kind of distress wormed within him. “So if you know about the pit, you know I didn’t mean to snap at you earlier, right?” he asked, trying not to sound pleading, because that was pathetic, but only half succeeding. “It’s just- I know it’s not really an excuse-”

“Jason, you are ridiculous,” Damian interrupted, snapping his pencil case shut. The older boy blinked in startled confusion.

“You didn’t so much as touch me,” Damian continued briskly. “If you were a servant, you would have to be flogged,” flogged?! “of course, for raising your voice and showing disrespect. However, you are not. You are my teacher and honorary brother, not to mention suffering from the pit’s more ill effects. You did no harm and I hold no grudge.”

Jason opened his mouth, then shut it. It wasn’t nothing, but he wasn’t going to try and convince Damian to be angry at him. He only had a few more days with the kid, he couldn’t waste them with Damian being mad at him. He had no idea how long it would be until he could see the kid after this. Hopefully not too long. The uncertainty was eating at him.

Maybe he could convince Talia to let Jason hang out or train or whatever with the kid between teachers. She seemed to be very encouraging of their relationship. Or she could hold it over his head. Crap, he hadn’t even thought of that. This could just be another way to blackmail him. Do this or you’ll never see the kid again.

Letting out a tired sigh, Jason ran a hand through his mussed hair. “I’m gonna go change.”

He took a few steps then paused, half turning to face Damian. “You gotta keep this between us, Dami. Me being Red X. Red X is more useful if people think he doesn’t have any connections to the League or Talia. Don’t even tell others in the League. Only people who know are you, me, and Talia. Let’s keep it that way. Got it?” It was really important that Damian understand this, but he wasn’t too worried.

As expected, Damian nodded seriously. "I had assumed as much. You have no need to worry about me. I have kept far greater secrets than this."

"Good to know," Jason said, a small smile creeping onto his face. "We'll head back as soon as I've changed and we’ve cleaned up the area." Couldn’t just leave the red metal Xs lying around.

They were both more talkative on the way back. The bulk of their conversation revolved around the animals from the petting zoo. The bright excitement Damian displayed as he talked made him actually look his age. Kid really did love animals. He'd have to figure out a way to bring the kid to more zoos, both petting zoos and normal zoos. Art museums too, kid would love that. Not for this visit, but for future visits.

When they got back to the mansion, Damian darted off to change his clothes. Jason, however, lingered in the foyer, waiting.

He didn't have to wait long, Talia materialized in the hallway a minute later. She was wearing the same type of outfit she always did. He’d actually seen Talia in a red dress once when she’d crashed one of Bruce’s gala, but that was the only time he’d ever seen her in something that wasn’t black.

“Jason,” she greeted. “You made it back on time I see. I assume your venture with Damian was fruitful.” The way she said it, he wasn’t sure if it was a question or not.

“That’s a _weird_ way to put it, but sure.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Kid had fun. Wanting to test the waters, he added. “We went to a petting zoo and stuff.” No negative reaction. No reaction at all actually. Hmm. “How have you never given the kid ice cream? It’s not like you can’t afford it.”

Talia ignored his ice cream question like a coward. “I’m glad the two of you enjoyed yourselves.” Stern eyes, they were almost always stern, looked him up and down. For what he didn’t know. “Dinner will be in promptly fifteen minutes,” she said briskly, turning to leave.

“Wait, that’s it?” Jason asked, halting her before she could ghost off. “You aren’t going to ask what else we did or what Damian’s favorite animal was or anything?” He shouldn’t be annoyed. He didn’t want Talia nosing in on him. Like really, _really_ didn’t want her nosing in on him. But would it kill her to show at least _a little_ interest in what her son had done during his free time. The things he’d enjoyed doing.

Talia cocked an elegant eyebrow. “I hardly see how all that matters,” she said coolly. “I trust you with Damian’s care. As for any more personal details, if I decide I wish to know them, I can ask Damian directly.” She paused for a moment. “What animal did you enjoy most at the petting zoo, Jason?”

Jason blinked. The hell? Why was she turning this on him? 

“Er,” he stalled, flustered. “I don’t know. I guess I liked the” bunnies “rabbits.” Rabbits sounded more mature. He shifted on his feet, hoping this line of questioning wouldn’t continue.

Thankfully, it didn’t. She merely hummed in acknowledgement, and then Damian, now in his mini assassin outfit again, was slipping up to them. Jason hadn’t heard him coming at all. 

“Hello, Mother,” Damian greeted primly. “Do you need something?” Of course that was the kid’s first thought upon seeing his mother after coming home. Why wouldn’t it be.

"No, my adored,” it took a lot of willpower, but Jason managed not to laugh. He supposed it was affectionate, in a super pretentious way, but at least it was affectionate. “I was merely awaiting your return. Jason tells me you enjoyed your excursion.”

Damian seemed slightly nervous as he answered, “Yes, Mother.”

Talia nodded approvingly. “It is good that the two of you are coming to know each other. Your bond will help with your training, among other things.” Almost absentmindedly, she reached down to adjust the folds of cloth that served as a breath muffler when pulled up over his lower face. “We are nearing our evening meal. You can accompany me to the dining room, Damian. Jason will join us once he drops his things off at his room.” Those were probably the most subtle orders Talia had ever given in her life.

“So you’ll be eating with us this time?” Jason asked. It wasn’t like he’d never eaten a meal with Talia before, but this time Damian would be there too. That was going to kill a lot of conversations, but he was sure Damian would be pleased by his mom’s presence.

“Yes,” Talia confirmed. “I apologize for not being there your first night, but I had to deal with the fallout of some fools’ utter incompetence.” Beside her, Damian scoffed, eyes full of distain. “With the high demands of my job, I can’t guarantee when I will be able to dine with you, but I will as I am able.”

“Oh, um, it’s fine,” Jason said, wondering what idiots had gotten themselves killed. Either by failing or for failing. “I’ll just go dump off my stuff then meet up with you guys.”

Jason hurried to his room. The only thing he really had to unpack was his suit so he could secure it in its secret compartment. Everything else he could unpack later. This place was so big it would take him five minutes just to walk to the dining room, and Talia despised tardiness.

A frown appeared on his face as he took out the suit. Talia still hadn’t given him any details on the mission she wanted him to do for her except that it was a job for Red X. Presumably, this meant she wanted something stolen. No clue what though. Or from where or why or from who.

But he’d deal with that later, right now he didn’t want to keep the two of them waiting. Maybe after they ate, he and Damian could go through the moves he’d taught Damian yesterday.

He could definitely get used to this big brother thing. Maybe he already had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this whole story ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. I don’t know how I ever thought this was going to be a one-shot.
> 
> Right now, I’m 95% sure the next story in this series will be called “The Heist”. We’ll be going back to some Red X, Teen Titans interactions. This one won’t be based on an episode from the actual show, I just think Red X needs another appearance in-between their first meeting and the race. Firstly, because we all know he deserved another episode. And secondly because it just logically makes sense. Robin didn’t react to seeing Red X with the belt again during the race so he MUST have already seen Red X again with the belt before that and the makers of the show just didn’t show us. Honestly I feel a little cheated for that but that is what the next story in this series is for.
> 
> As always, comments and feedback are appreciated, I read them all.


End file.
